A leader of jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has said that the party plans to “invite” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to join its protests here, triggering a sharp response from the ruling coalition on Saturday. Mr Jaishankar will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council of Heads of Government (SCO-CHG) meeting in Pakistan on October 15 and 16.
Muhammad Ali Saif, an advisor on information to the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province ruled by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, invited Mr Jaishankar to participate in the ongoing protests while speaking on a Geo News programme late on Friday night.
“PTI will invite Jaishankar, Indian External Affairs Minister, to come and join PTI’s protest and speak to our people and see that Pakistan is a strong democracy where everyone has a right to protest,” Mr Saif said sarcastically in response to a question.
Reacting strongly, Attaullah Tarar, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcast and a leader of the major ruling partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said Mr Saif’s invitation to the Indian foreign minister is “highly irresponsible” and amounts to “enmity towards Pakistan.”
Sarjeel Memon, Sindh province’s Information Minister and a leader of another ruling partner Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said: “Today the PTI is inviting Jaishankar to its protest and tomorrow it will call Israeli premier for the purpose. This party is anti-Pakistan and wants to sabotage the SCO summit through its protest.”
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the PTI’s invitation to Mr Jaishankar “put a question mark on the credibility of Khan’s party.”
However, after the government ministers’ sharp reactions, Mr Saif said his statement about Mr Jaishankar was taken out of context.
The PTI has been staging protests, claiming that the government should adhere to the constitution, pressing for the judiciary’s independence, against rising inflation apart from demanding the release of its 72-year-old founder.
Currently incarcerated at the Adilala Jail in Rawalpindi, Khan was arrested on August 5, 2023. Facing dozens of cases, he has been convicted in a few of them.
On Saturday, Pakistan Army troops were deployed in Islamabad to ensure security ahead of the PTI’s protest rally at the D-Chowk. The army would remain in the city from October 5-17 to maintain law and order for the upcoming SCO, the government had announced.
The authorities have taken strict measures to stop the PTI from entering Islamabad, blocking all highways leading to the city, banning pillion riding and suspending mobile phone services.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which bans public gatherings, political assemblies, and demonstrations, has also been imposed in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad to outlaw any political assembly or protest.