LAHORE - A top civilian intelligence agency, which is tasked to inform the government of the possible mass of the PTI Azadi March is of the assessment that Imran Khan, if given a free hand, can comfortably lead a sizeable march from the provincial capital on August 14, The Nation has learnt.
Informed political sources, privy to the assessment of the prime civilian intelligence agency concerning the possible mass of PTI’s upcoming Azadi March, told this correspondent on Friday that Imran can comfortably lead a march of more than 200,000 supporters from the provincial capital on August 14 if he is given a free hand.
The assessment was based on the field reports prepared on the basis of the day-to-day monitoring of the PTI preparations for the launch of the march. The political section in the internal wing of the civilian secret service, working under the command of a director, is constantly supervising the movements of PTI top leadership with special focus on the leaders and workers who are working to mobilise the party’s support base for August 14.
According to the sources, the assessment identified 19 districts of North, Central and South Punjab, which can send a sizeable support to the PTI Azadi March, raising the number of marchers to more than 300,000 before reaching the federal capital.
The identified districts include: Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Chakwal, Jhang, Attock and Rawalpindi in North Punjab, Kasur, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal and Faisalabad in Central Punjab and Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Pakpattan in South Punjab.
All the regional setups of the civilian secret service in the mentioned 19 districts and others are working round the clock in a bid to send reports on daily basis to the Punjab office which finally wets the reports and sends the same to the intelligence agency’s headquarters in the federal capital.
The sources pointed out that the civilian agency was also coordinating with Special Branch Punjab regarding the PTI’s Azadi March targets. They added that arrests of the PTI leaders and workers would be made in the light of the combined lists of the civilian intelligence agency and the Special Branch.
According to them, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the focus of the agency as the two provinces were the main bases of the PTI. However, a minor check has also been put in place in Karachi (Sindh) and parts of Balochistan.
The sources said massive resources had been made available to assess the PTI Azadi March threat.
About the PAT Revolution (Inqilab) March, the sources said the civilian agency was dealing with the matters of PTI and PAT, separately, and two different sections in the same wing were assessing their day-to-day situation.
They added that in a fresh development after the clash between PAT workers and police at the Minhaj headquarters, major guns of the agency had been pointed at PAT.