Islamabad: New security plan for Red Zone, mobile services remain suspended
Security of Red Zone has been beefed up with more than nine thousand security personnel.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Authorities have released a new security plan for the Red Zone as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) activists are marching towards the federal capital, Dunya News reported on Friday.
Security has been beefed up with more than nine thousand police, Rangers and FC personnel while all the roads leading towards Red Zone have been sealed with barbed wires, concrete blocks and shipping containers.
Only government employees, diplomats and concerned authorities can enter Red Zone through two entry points.
Mobile phone service has also been suspended in the area. Mobile network suspension is a common practice on sensitive occasions in Pakistan aimed at stopping terrorists using cell phones to detonate bombs.
The heavily-guarded Red Zone is home to parliament, the president and prime minister's residences and foreign embassies.
Supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and Canada-based cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri are inching towards Islamabad to demand Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation and call fresh elections.
Both Khan and Qadri, who led mass demonstrations in Islamabad early last year to urge electoral reform, allege that the May 2013 general election was rigged.
