ISLAMABAD: The Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have been placed at the highest alert in Punjab province in general and in the capital city of Lahore in particular in the wake of fresh terror threats issued by the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) public gathering to be held today at Minar-e-Pakistan.
Official sources said that Punjab police had deployed heavy contingent of police personnel at Lahore, and all entry and exit points of the city, to avert any untoward incident. The provincial police had alerted the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership including PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz and party Punjab president Rana Sanaullah, about the threat of a possible attack on the PDM jalsa, and requested them to cancel the rally, they said.
About the security arrangements for the PDM rally, a spokesman of Lahore police said that the government had yet not given permission for holding of the rally, saying that security plan for the rally would be executed once PDM was allowed to hold jalsa.
"A sub-cabinet headed by Raja Basharat, law minister decided not to give permission to the opposition for the rally due to security threats and the coronavirus situation," he said. Official said that Provincial Intelligence Committee (PIC) and the District Intelligence Committee (DIC) during their recent separate meetings have also refused to give permission to the PMD for holding a public gathering.
The PIC and the DIC had decided that because of terror threats and increase in number of Covid-19 cases, the Punjab government Civil Administration Act 2017 for holding public gathering/jalsa cannot be granted, and any public gathering as requested by the applicant will be an unlawful assembly, and action will be taken against the organiser as per law, they said.
Sources also said that the police had arrested over 300 workers from various parts of the city, and also registered cases against the service providers to the jalsa.
According to an alert issued by the NACTA, addressed to the Punjab home secretary, the provincial police chief, and the director general (DG) Ranger, an attack on the PDM leadership could be carried out in the next few days, and the top-tier leadership of the opposition alliance could be assassinated.
It issued directives to all the concerned stakeholders for improving and tightening security arrangements for the PDM gathering and the political leadership. "A meeting of the terror outfits was also held to plan an attack on opposition leadership," it said.
The NACTA had also issued terror threat October 22 warning that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could target the country's political and religious leadership in Peshawar and Quetta, media reported on Thursday few days before the PDM public gathering in Quetta and Peshawar.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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