Overview
- The Interior Ministry issued a notification dated August 21 authorising immediate deployment of three Pakistan Army companies to Rawalpindi for six months under Article 245, following a formal request from the Punjab Home Department.
- The order tasks the troops with 'sensitive security duties' to help maintain law and order, strengthen security at sensitive locations and key roads, and respond to any unforeseen or undesirable incidents on request of the district administration.
- The decision comes after an August 11 shooting near the Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi that killed one soldier and in which the attacker was neutralised, a security incident cited by multiple outlets as a near-term trigger.
- Analysts and some media link the timing to a newly passed Defence Forces Act that expanded powers for Chief of Defence Asim Munir and to political tensions around high-profile detainees and planned PTI protests, though the official notification gives only a security rationale.
- Public details remain limited on exact force strength, staging locations or specific threat assessments, so the main near-term effects to watch are increased military presence around GHQ and Adiala Jail, tighter security for sensitive roads and buildings, and how civil-military roles are managed during the six-month deployment.