Jailed former PM Imran Khan’s party postpones Islamabad rally after NOC cancellation

Islamabad, July 6: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Saturday postponed its rally in the suburbs of Islamabad after authorities revoked its permit, citing security concerns.
The party was scheduled to stage its power show at Tarnol at 6 pm for which it had obtained a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the deputy commissioner of Islamabad.
However, the city administration on Friday cancelled the permission saying the compliance notice issued by the deputy commissioner had been reconsidered following security concerns.
An official press release said that the Chief Commissioner has decided to cancel the certificate issued for the political rally in view of the current security situation, advent of Muharram, security concerns and reports from law enforcement agencies.
Initially, the PTI leadership had threatened to go ahead with the rally despite the cancellation of the permit. PTI chief Omar Ayub Khan told reporters late last night that his party would go ahead with the planned rally “come what may”.
However, there has been a change in stance and today Omar, accompanied by PTI chief Gohar Khan, said at a press conference that the planned rally has been postponed until after Muharram.
“God willing… we will hold it after Ashura through a legal process,” Omar said, adding that the PTI would not sit after one rally but would hold several other rallies in Lahore, Karachi and other cities.
Gohar Khan claimed that several PTI workers had been arrested in the past few days and vowed to take the matter to court. “We strongly condemn this state brutality,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the party filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking contempt of court proceedings against the Islamabad district administration and police for cancelling the NOC.
He said the party had approached the IHC seeking permission to hold the rally and while hearing its petition, the court was informed by the administration that permission had been granted for the rally. (PTI)