Live updates on PTI protest in Rawalpindi, Islamabad

Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi has appealed President Asif Ali Zardari to intervene to defuse political temperature in the country.

In a letter to the president, Ashrafi said the tense situation is prevailing across the country particularly in Islamabad and added that youth coming to Islamabad are in an emotional state without leadership.

"The president should immediately invite the leaders of political and religious parties for talks," he said adding that "moderate" political leaders of PTI should be invited for talks.  

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political committee has decided to continue its protests in Islamabad and Lahore, said party leader Aon Abbas.

In a statement, Abbas claimed that KP CM Gandapur was being held in custody to pressure the opposition party to end its protest.

“The political committee has rejected all kinds of pressure tactics to end the protest,” he said adding that alternate leadership will lead the protest in case of arrests.

Speaking to journalists ahead of entering KP House in Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said that incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan will decide the future course of action regarding protest.

The chief minister said that they have reached here after recording their “peaceful protest”.

“We have recorded our protest,” he added.

The chief minister was of the view that they would announce their future strategy after receiving directions from the PTI founder.

PTI’s lawyer Khalid Yousuf has said that they still did not know the whereabouts of Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan, who were taken into custody in Islamabad a day earlier.

“Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan have not been produced any court of law [despite a span of around 24 hours]," he said.

The lawyer said that he, along with a court bailiff, visited the women police station but the duo had been shifted from there.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the local authorities to allocate a designated place to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for organising its demonstration and to stop any unlawful protest in the federal capital that may create situation of lockdown or disrupt peace during the period of SCO summit.

The directives were issued by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq through a three-page order after hearing the petition filed by Traders Welfare Association President Raja Hassan Akhtar, who sought the court's order to stop the major opposition party’s protest in Islamabad.

Law and order situation of Islamabad remains precarious as the Imran Khan-founded party tried to stage a protest at D-Chowk amid the imposition of Section 144 (which bars political activities and gatherings) in the twin cities to ensure security, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's meeting.

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