Islamabad sit-in: Crunch talks on

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government continued crunch talks with Tehreek-i-labaik Ya Rasool Allah and other radical religious groups and requested the courts to extend a deadline for thousands of protestors to clear two busy highways in Islamabad that they have been blocking for over a week.

The newly formed group is holding the sit-in demanding the removal of law minister Zahid Hamid over a change in the country's electoral laws under which a Muslim candidate has to sign a declaration in which the finality of the Prophethood is affirmed. It was earlier proposed that certain sections of this law could be amended but this had led to an angry reaction from religious parties.

Supporters of Tehreek-i-labaik Ya Rasool Allah, along with groups like Tehreek-i-khatm-inabuwwat and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan, have been blocking the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road that connect the capital with its only airport and the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

A clash was averted as interior minister Ahsan Iqbal requested the courts to give them more time to disperse, in the hope of an amicable solution.

“We hope that the crisis will be resolved. Several religious leaders have been involved in the process. We will try to finalise things by tomorrow,” Iqbal said on Saturday night.

The government was expected to go into action on Sunday after the Islamabad High Court gave a deadline to the protestors to end their blockage.

Iqbal appealed to the protest leaders to call off their sit-in, saying parliament had already addressed the issue by restoring the ‘Khatm-e-nabuwwat declaration’ to its original shape and strengthened it further by also restoring 7b and 7c clauses in the elections law.

A statement issued by the interior ministry said that the issue of Khatm-e-nabuwwat should not be used for doing politics and making division. He said the country could not afford division, tensions and lawlessness at this time. “Creating hurdles in the movements of the general public is against the teaching of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” he further stated.

However, a spokesperson for the protest leaders told local media that they had not budged on their demand for removal of law minister Hamid.