AGENCIES
Pakistan’s cleric-cum-politician Maulana Fazlur Rehman has threatened to lock down the entire country after the deadline set by him for the resignation of prime minister Imran Khan ended last night.
Rehman, the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl addressed a mammoth protest rally in the capital Islamabad at the end of two-day deadline. Rehman had led a caravan of supporters, dubbed the ‘Azadi’ March, to Islamabad last week in an attempt to pressure Pakistan Prime Minister to step down.
He stressed that the protest will continue until the objective is achieved. Rehman announced that he is planning to meet other Opposition leaders today to take a consensus decision about any future course of action.
Thousands of protesters, under the rallying banner of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F’s (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman and other opposition parties, have converged in Islamabad, seeking resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government, which they term ‘fake and selected’.
Dubbed the ‘Azadi’ March, the caravan, which set off from Sindh, left Punjab’s city Lahore on Wednesday and culminated its journey Thursday night in Islamabad.
Earlier, the ruling and the opposition parties reached an agreement to let the anti-government march progress as planned, as long as the protesters do not cross into the sensitive “Red Zone” in the federal capital.
‘We are ready to give face-saving to Maulana sahib,’ says Firdous Ashiq Awan
“We are ready to give face-saving to Maulana sahib,” says Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan at a late-night press conference along with Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri when asked if the government would facilitate the return of protesters from Islamabad.
The government apparently adopted the policy of carrot and stick; Dr Awan on one hand hailed the JUI-F chief’s decision, but on the other she criticised him for “challenging the writ of the state” and “tarnishing moderate and progressive face of the country by using a religious card and instigating students of seminaries against the government”.