Islamabad, Pakistan: Despite digging trenches on the Motorway at Haro River bridge, sealing 26 entry points of Islamabad, sealing all entry points of Rawalpindi, and placing walls of cargo containers, neither the Islamabad Police nor Rawalpindi Islamabad administration could stop PTI’s protestors from reaching around the D-Chowk, the venue that was announced by CM Amin Ali Gandapur.
Gandapur reached Islamabad from Swabi in 48 hours with a procession of PTI followers for protesting at the D-Chowk Red Zone area although his procession faced a stiff response from the police. This is a lesson to political forces that governance is merely a dream if the governments are not popular among the masses and such governments have to take the support of the military under Article 245 to call the Army to manage the law and order situation.
Some journalists sitting in the National Press Club were of the view today’s event was a message to the State that if the ‘nip in the bud’ formula is not followed then the unruly mob can surely fight with the state administration.
They were of the view that CM KP Ali Amin Gandapur had been threatening the state institutions for a long but no appropriate action was taken against him. He already announced arms resistance against the State of Pakistan but no case was registered against him although he is creating hatred among policemen of KP against the Pakistan Army. This is of course one of the modalities of mutiny. Journalists from Peshawar claimed that Gandapur was behind the protest of suspended policemen from Lakki Marwat and Bannu against the Pakistan Army. It should be noted that the special force in the merged districts was set up in police uniforms in 2018 due to political interests and quotas – these people were not recruited based on basic competence and merit and they behave like clerks and lawyers instead of behaving like a regular discipline force. Some time ago, the South Waziristan police also went on strike to prevent FC from using smuggling vehicles.
It is also claimed by some journalists that Gandapur plans to incite anti-military sentiments in the province and use the police, levies, and special forces under the provincial government for wicked political purposes.
When asked to comments, a senior journalist, author, and analyst (name withheld on request) was of the view that Gandapur has been peddling anti-state and anti-army myths just to please his masters and KPK Assembly is playing a second fiddle that passed an anti-army resolution and all this is being done at a time when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is playing a frontline role in the war against terrorism in the country. He was of the view that instead of focusing on the governance and performance of the province, Gandapur is spending his time creating an anti-state and anti-army narrative, which cannot be allowed.
