Hardline party seeks removal of minister
rawalpindi — Authorities on Friday blocked off roads into Islamabad as 3,000 members of a hardline party that backs blasphemy laws staged a sit-in on a key highway, demanding the resignation of a minister it blames for changes to an electoral oath.
Dozens of people are on death row, convicted over blasphemy, a charge that carries a mandatory death sentence, although no executions have been carried out.
The rally began with a few hundred members of the small radical Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party who had gathered earlier this week at the main Faizabad crossing outside Islamabad.
By Friday afternoon, the gathering grew to over 3,000, disrupting public life and prompting police to set up shipping containers on the throughway to prevent the protesters from entering the city.
The protesters demanded the resignation of Law Minister Zahid Hamid, whom they hold responsible for the law change, and denounced him as a blasphemer. “Immediately appear before us and beg for forgiveness,” said one speaker.
Two high court lawyers who joined the sit-in said they would work to advance Labaik’s agenda in the courts.
“He (Hamid) has insulted the blasphemy laws, the punishment for which is death,” said one of the lawyers.
Addressing emotionally charged demonstrators, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the head of the Tehreek-iLabaik Ya Rasool Allah party, said they will not end their protest until the government has sacked Hamid.
“We will not allow anyone to change Islamic laws,” Khadim Hussain Rizvi said. — AP, Reuters