Pak minister out, stir ends
Under pressure, law minister Zahid Hamid decides to resign
ISLAMABAD : The radical Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan called off countrywide protests and its followers dispersed in most cities on Monday after the government gave in to its demand that law minister Zahid Hamid should resign over a blasphemy row.
Blockades by the anti-blasphemy group’s supporters in Karachi and Lahore were lifted and life slowly returned to normal. But protestors remained in Islamabad, saying they would disperse after the government freed their arrested colleagues.
Tehreek-e-Labbaik chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, whose protest had paralysed Islamabad for almost three weeks, thanked the army chief for helping end the stand-off, raising questions about the military’s role.
The government’s climbdown will be an embarrassment for the ruling PML-N party ahead of elections expected in mid-2018, and it also highlighted the power of religious groups.
Seven people were killed and nearly 200 wounded during an unsuccessful police operation over the weekend to disperse the protesters in Islamabad. The clashes in the capital triggered violent protests in other cities.
Law minister Hamid sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi “to take the country out of a crisis-like situation”, state-run PTV reported. Hamid said, “The decision to resign was taken in a bid to steer the country out of the prevailing critical situation.”
Karachi was blocked at 10 places while roads in Lahore were blocked at16 points by the group, which staged a prolonged protest in Islamabad’s Faizabad area, demanding the ouster of Hamid over a hastily abandoned legislation that it considered blasphemous.
The Tehreek-e-Labbaik and the government signed an agreement following negotiations apparently brokered by the army. The agreement was signed by interior minister Ahsan Iqbal, Rizvi and an ISI official, Maj Gen Faiz Hamid.