ISLAMABAD    -    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday constituted a committee headed by federal Interior Minister Rana Sana Ullah to deal with the situation related to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march.

In a statement, the interior minister confirmed the development stating that rule of law will be upheld and no one will be allowed to disturb the lives of people. While participating in Space discussion on Twitter, he said the government will definitely allow PTI to hold its gathering in Islamabad at the place designated by courts. 

However, he said red zone is a red line for any such gatherings. 

Rana Sanaullah also said that no group or armed crowd will be allowed to make the state hostage and their nefarious designs will be dealt with an iron hand. He went on to say that PTI’s unconstitutional demands and fake propaganda against the state institutions had been exposed. 

Interestingly, the coalition government first showed flexibility towards PTI and offered direct talks to prevent the protest march but late Saturday backtracked from the talks offer to Imran Khan after audio leak of Ali Amin Gandapur. The PTI leader in the audio-clip could be heard talking to a person for collection of guns during their planned Azadi march in Islamabad.

Earlier, On Saturday Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a 13-member high-powered negotiations committee headed by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and comprising leaders of coalition parties. The members of the committee included Marriyum Aurangzeb, Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Maulana Asad Mahmood, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Hanif Abbasi and Mian Iftikhar Husain.

“The committee is established to maintain peace and order and hold political discussions regarding the long march,” the interior ministry said in an official statement. Later in the evening Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that the committee would not talk to those who are collecting guns in the march.”

Official sources told The Nation that the committee would remain intact and would deal with the long march and would take decisions accordingly, however it would not hold any talks with PTI.

PM extends felicitation to President Erdogan on Republic Day

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday extended his heartiest felicitations to President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish people on the observance of 99th Republic Day.

On his Twitter handle, the prime minister said that the heroic struggle of Turkish people for independence under the leadership of Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk held a prominent place in the annals of history.

In a related tweet, the prime minister said that over the years, Türkiye’s impressive economic strides under president Erdogan were acknowledged by the world. 

“Pakistan seeks to deepen its multifaceted ties by further exploring the vast untapped potential in trade, commerce & industry,” he added.

Meanwhile, Attock Group of Companies has donated 10 crore 73.9 lakh rupees to the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund to help the flood affected people in the country.

The donation was made by Chief Executive of the Group, Shoaib Anwar Malik during meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Out of this amount, the cheque of ten crore rupees was donated by all the companies under the Group while another cheque of 73.9 lakh rupees was by employees of Attock group from their one day salary.