Islamabad : Pakistan will deploy army troops for the security of capital Islamabad amid Taliban threats as the security forces have launched a major anti-terrorism operation in North Waziristan, the interior ministry said Friday.
The army said the security forces have killed nearly 500 local and foreign militants since the operation started on June 15.
As the government expects a reaction from the Taliban, a spokesman for the interior ministry said that the army troops would temporary be deployed in aid of the police force, Xinhua reported.
The government has already deployed paramilitary troops in Islamabad in support of the police force following a deadly attack on judges and lawyers in Islamabad earlier this year.
Earlier, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan told reporters that troops will perform security duties in Islamabad for three months from Aug 1.
“We have called in the army in Islamabad under the constitutional provisions,” Khan said.
The interior ministry said that the troops would perform duties at the Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport and other sensitive places in the capital city.
He said the army’s contingents from the Rapid Response Force will also perform duties in aid of the police and civil administration.
The troops’ deployment comes at a time when a major opposition party has announced an anti-government march in Islamabad Aug 14.
Cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan said hundreds of thousands of supporters of his Tehrik-e-Insaf party would stage the march in Islamabad.
The interior minister said that the government has not yet decided to allow the march Aug 14, noting that a decision as to whether allow the opposition party to hold their rally in Islamabad would be taken after they file a permission letter.
There have been media reports that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided in principle to approve the deployment of the armed forces in aid of the civil administration to enhance security at sensitive installations across the country.