RAWALPINDI: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said that government will deal with the participants of the long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) with an iron hand and will prevent their entry to the capital with full force if they tried to storm Islamabad and break the law.
Taking to reporters after the inauguration of passport office at Rawalpindi High Court Bar Association, he said that the orders of Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding the protest were clear.
The court has already given the parameters for staging a protest in Islamabad, he said, adding that if they staged a peaceful protest within the parameters and by staying within the ambit of law, we will facilitate them, as well as, provide security to them at the site designated by the courts for protest.
“If they tried to storm Islamabad then I want to make it clear to them that no mob will be allowed to storm Islamabad”, he said, adding that anyone coming with such a bad intention will be dealt with iron hands.
He said that the protesters of the PTI long march would be dealt in such a way that they will never think about a ‘mob culture’ in the future. If the mob culture succeeds, it will destroy the state, he said, adding democracy will be rendered meaningless if the mob culture continued to grow in the country.
Regarding Arshad Sharif’s murder case, he said that all matters related to the incident have been handed over to the inquiry commission, and the commission will submit its report before the ministry of interior.
The report will be presented before Prime Minister and federal cabinet, he said, adding that his office did not allow him to pass any judgment on its own before the commission finalized its report.
He said that many things have so far been surfaced regarding Sharif’s murder but he did not want to disclose it at this stage. The inquiry commission has been fully authorized and the commission can include anyone in the investigation.
To a question about the imposition of the governor’s rule, he said that if the situation deteriorated then he can move a summary to the cabinet but so far no decision has been made in this regard. He said that so far 179 passport offices have been set up in the country and another 10 new offices will be established in the country. We are making efforts to set up passport offices in every Tehsil, he said.
About his case, he said that a fake and baseless has been made by the anti-corruption department against him to appease Imran Khan. This case is a bad example of political revenge, he said, the anti-corruption department has taken back the arrest warrant against him.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench disposed of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s plea for cancellation of his arrest warrant.
During the hearing, Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan remarked that the institutions have become political instruments. One comes to sue and the other comes to dismiss the case.
Addressing the Director General (DG) Anti-Corruption, the court said whether the FIR was directly on Rana Sanaullah or on the source report. DG Anti-Corruption Nadeem Sarwar replied that the FIR was filed on the source report.
The court inquired who processed this source report and also quoted the verdict in Moonis Elahi’s case by the High Court as a reference; we have to follow it, the court added.
The court expressed its displeasure on DG Anti-Corruption. The judge stated that DG Anti-Corruption would have known if the anti-corruption had processed the notice.
“You obtained an arrest warrant against Rana Sanaullah by making a false statement. Tell the court whether you want to arrest Rana Sana or not,” added the court. To which the DG Anti-Corruption responded that the Interior Minister should not be arrested.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022