LAHORE: The Punjab government on Thursday imposed a ban on all political assemblies, gatherings, rallies and protests in nine districts from Oct 10 to 12, following the announcement of protests by the PTI.

The home department issued a notification imposing Section 144 to prohibit political assemblies and gatherings in the districts of Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan, Pakpattan, Okara, Vehari, Gujranwala, Wazirabad and Khanewal for three days.

This decision was made at the request of respective district deputy commissioners.

The Section 144 order stated that in view of the prevailing law and order situation and security threats, any political gathering could provide soft targets for miscreants, posing a serious security threat.

The PTl had announced a schedule of protests beginning from Multan and Sahiwal from Friday (today). The protests have been planned in Gujranwala and Sargodha on October 12, in Dera Ghazi Khan on October 13 and in Lahore and Faisalabad on October 14.-Staff Reporter