LAHORE: A detailed review of the security arrangements to be made for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ‘long march’ that would restart on Thursday was undertaken at a meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and attended among others by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Moonis Elahi, Umar Ayub and Hussain Elahi.

While during the meeting police officials presented a proposed plan for the march, the CM asked all the officials concerned to ensure foolproof security arrangements and said that the participants should be provided with full security in every city from Wazirabad to Rawalpindi.

Snipers should be deputed on the rooftops of buildings along the route, he said. A strong force of 15,000 police personnel would be deployed to the march route from Wazirabad to Rawalpindi.

CM noted and ordered that the police control room should actively perform its duties 24 hours. The long march should be monitored with drone cameras and a two-tier security fence should be arranged around the long march, he said.

The CM asserted that there will be no compromise on the foolproof security of the PTI leadership and the participants, and the use of bulletproof rostrum and bulletproof glass should be ensured on the container, and a new bulletproof container should be prepared.

In this regard, the Punjab government will provide all possible support, he said. He emphasized that foolproof security arrangements should be made in every aspect and police and administrative officers should be deputed for coordination in each district and additional police force should be called from other districts in Rawalpindi.

The CM ordered that other accomplices of the accused, who threatened to kill Imran Khan in Hafizabad, should also be brought to justice. The police force is my team and I value their sacrifices, he concluded.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that he sees the sacrifices of the police with admiration and clarified that he did not criticize the police department but expressed concerns about an individual in his speech. Imran Khan thanked the police twice for the excellent security arrangements in Gujranwala, he added. Like the police, there are talented officers in every department and average officers too.

There was a murderous attack on Imran Khan, and the delay in the registration of FIR caused public concern and questions were raised, he maintained. Qureshi said my speech was misrepresented. He said that the lodged FIR has been rejected by everyone. Some elements are afraid of our long march, they don't want it to be a march, he added.

Asad Umar said that the police provided the best security during the long march. We would proceed with the best coordination during the long march starting from Thursday, he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022