Kathmandu, May 26
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s administration has been forced to deploy troops in the ‘Red Zone’ to calm growing unrest caused by a demonstration headed by Imran Khan, a former Pakistani Prime Minister and PTI leader. The government has placed troops in strategic locations including the courts, parliament, and Rashtrapati Bhawan.
After a procession headed by Khan reached the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday morning under a blockade by government security personnel, security has been tightened up.
In a government order issued on Twitter, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah said, ”Given the law-and-order situation in the capital Islamabad, the government has been given the right under Article 245 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to deploy a sufficient number of troops.”
After a procession headed by Imran Khan reached the city, the Pakistani government deployed troops in the Red Zone to ‘guard critical government buildings’ amid rising tensions in the country. The decision was made to safeguard Pakistan’s Supreme Court, Parliament House, Presidential Palace, Prime Minister’s Office, and other key government structures.
The authorities had already stopped all highways going to Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Wednesday, in response to huge rallies by former Prime Minister Khan and his supporters.
