Marchers won't be allowed to cross red line, says Shah.

Byline: Imran Mukhtar

ISLAMABAD -- The federal government on Thursday said it would provide utilities and security to marchers led by the JUI-F at the protest venue in Islamabad, but would not allow anyone to cross the red line and create unrest.

'We are going all out in our efforts to make them (protesters) comfortable,' said Interior Minister Brigadier (retd) Ijaz Ahmed Shah while addressing a press conference along with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan.

Backed by other opposition parties, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is holding 'Azadi March', challenging Prime Minister Imran Khan's government and labelling it as 'illegitimate'. Caravans of protest marchers set off from different parts of the country last Sunday to reach Islamabad on October 31 where the opposition is scheduled to hold a rally today after Friday prayers.

'We have expanded the area of the protest venue...they will feel as if they are staying at Pearl Continental,' the interior minister said. He claimed that 20,000 to 25,000 marchers who left different parts of the country on October 27 are now staying in Gujar Khan, 62 kilometres from Islamabad.

Once all marchers reach the venue, the government would provide full security to them. He said the JUI-F chief would be given special security as he had survived terrorist attacks in the past and his custom-made container has been given a separate route to reach the protest venue without any difficulty.

'PM Imran Khan has decided that he is going to deal with this dharna (sit-in) politically, not administratively,' Shah claimed in his first-ever press conference after he took charge of his position earlier this year.

The interior minister, a former intelligence czar, warned that law violators would be dealt with according to the law if anyone violates the 37-point code of conduct signed by the JUI-F and the government.

'Power of the state could not be violated by people. It is not a banana republic...what are you talking about,' he said while responding to a journalist who asked if the government was afraid of Azadi March, which the minister labelled as 'Maulana's march.'

He made it clear that the government was still clueless of the plans of the Maulana. When asked how the government would react if he stages a sit-in, the minister said nothing could be pre-conceived in the rules of business, and the administration. 'But if someone crosses the red line, rules of...

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