The government has shown maximum tolerance in the sit-in demonstrations organized by the Pakistan Tehreek an-Insaf (PTI) on November 24, stated Ishaq Dar, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. He clarified that law enforcement agencies had prepared themselves with water cannons, tear gas, and batons, but had no available live ammunition at their disposal. The Army was lying in the third defense line to apprehend and guard the diplomatic corps and federal institutions.
The government had also enacted the ‘Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024,’ which also forbids all protest demonstrations in the Red Zone and requires permission from a magistrate for any public gathering, Dar raised during a briefing to senior diplomats. He also mentioned that the Islamabad High Court had barred PTI from holding any protest gathering within the Red Zone.
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Dar remarked about expenditure waste through the provinces by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the aforementioned demonstration while asserting that no federating unit is permitted constitutionally to march towards the capital. It should be noted that PTI would protest in conjunction with the visit of the Belarusian president, as previously, with the protests coinciding with those significant dates.
The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that the Supreme Court dismissed PTI’s claims about rigging in 35 seats of the National Assembly, which was the major reason for 2014’s sit-in. Even so, the PTI never apologized, even after writing this in an agreement with the government.