Pakistan govt warns of 'terror assassination threat' ahead of Opposition's 3rd rally

Ahead of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)'s rallies in Quetta and Peshawar, Imran Khan-led Pakistan government on Thursday, claimed that Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) in connivance with Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) was planning to carry out large-scale terrorist activities targetting political and religious leadership. Pakistan's national counterterrorism authority issued a 'threat alert' to authorities in Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh, and Punjab provinces stating that the 'terror plan' included assassination through a suicide bombing in the 'near future'. This move comes amid massive protests by 11 opposition parties against Khan and his 'military-led' establishment.

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Pak govt warns of terror threat in Opposition rallies

Claiming that 'hostile media' was already blatantly projecting such a scenario as a 'well-orchestrated propaganda campaign', the Pakistan government ordered these provinces to heighten security measures on all important gatherings of political and religious leaders in the region. Ex-Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif is set to address the PDM's Quetta rally scheduled for October 25 - the third such rally after Gujranwala and Karachi, Reports state that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is likely to skip the rally due to his party’s election campaign in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), but will attend it virtually.

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At the first rally in Gujranwala on 16 October, Sharif had created shockwaves when he had targetted the country's current military leadership. Addressing the rally virtually via London, said, " (Army chief) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa ended my government. He rigged 2018 elections and imposed incapable Imran Khan on the nation. Gen. Bajwa is a direct culprit and he will have to give an answer to this." The PDM has launched a three-phased anti-government movement under an “action plan” starting with countrywide public meetings, protest demonstrations and rallies before a “decisive long march” towards Islamabad in January 2021 to oust the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government.

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In the second rally on October 18, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)'s Maryam Nawaz joined hands with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)'s  Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the two vowed to send Imran Khan to jail and to establish a democratically elected government in Pakistan. After the rally, an FIR was filed against Maryam Nawaz's husband Captain Safdar Awan (retired) and he was arrested by Sindh police barging into his hotel room on Monday night. The police stated that he was arrested for recently cheering on a charged crowd by chanting ‘Vote ko izzat do (Give respect to the vote) at the mausoleum of Mohammad Ali Jinnah - founder of Pakistan. He was later given bail, with the PPP, which rules the province distancing itself from the incident wondered who had ordered the arrest of Awan.

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The controversy boiled over after Pakistan's Sindh Police chief was reportedly forcibly taken away by paramilitary Frontier Corps from his home in Karachi in the wee hours of Monday and pressurised to order for the arrest of Safdar. In protest, Sindh IGP, at least two additional inspectors general, seven deputy inspectors general, and six senior superintendents of police decided to go on long leave in protest over the siege of Inspector General House by the military. They have now deferred their leave"in the larger national interest" after Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa ordered an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Awan's arrest. Imran Khan has called the rallies a 'circus' claiming that 'when we go after these robbers (Opposition), they will unite'.