The consolidated alert names radical groups including AI Qaeda, Daesh, TTP, and TLP as sources of threat to Khan as well as the gatherings he may attend.
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior Wednesday issued a fresh threat alert against the person of former Prime Minister Imran Khan ahead of the November 26 rally he plans to hold at the juncture of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
It is not known how seriously Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party will take this new alert that re-emphasizes earlier alerts and names extremist groups including AI Qaeda, Daesh, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The consolidated threat alert, issued with the approval of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, is titled “exercising extreme caution and avoiding public gatherings in the wake of ulterior motives of hostile agencies and other anti-state elements”.
The letter, signed by Rai Naeem Nawaz, Section Officer (NAP), has been addressed to the secretary general of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
It begins by recalling that from time to time, the Ministry has been “sharing threat alerts generated by credible intelligence sources to the life of Mr. Imran Khan, Chairman, PTI by anti-state elements, which aim to destabilize the country.”
It goes on to say that the Wazirabad attack of November 3 “has again highlighted the importance of taking the threat alerts seriously, particularly in the context of the resumption of the long march and its culmination in Rawalpindi…”
Khan has announced his intention to attend a gathering at Rawalpindi on November 26.
The letter recalls that in view of these threats, the federal government has already provided a bulletproof vehicle for the use of the former prime minister and deployed police and civil armed forces to guard him during his stay in Islamabad.
“However, presently he is stationed in Lahore and participants of the long march have travelled to Rawat which is very close to Rawalpindi”, says the letter, voicing the expectation that the government of Punjab would make all possible security arrangements not only for Khan but also for participants of the long march.
It says “anti-state elements like AI-Qaeda/Daesh, TTP and radicalized youth of TLP can take advantage of soft targets like public gatherings to destabilize the country through suicide attacks, IEDs, etc.”
The Interior Ministry says in view of the gravity of the security threat, the need to exercise maximum caution can hardly be overemphasized, but regrets that the PTI leadership seems to have paid no heed to the repeated threat alerts issued over the last few months.
It says the alerts have been issued in general as well as in the context of the planned protest at Rawalpindi in particular, but that “the party leadership seems oblivious to the prevailing security situation”.
The letter references several prior threat alerts shared with the PTI as well as with the provincial governments, which it has enclosed. It has been copied to the secretary to the Prime Minister; chief secretaries and Inspector Generals of Police of all provincial and special area governments; Chief Commissioner and Inspector Generals, Police, of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT); and the Directorate General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
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