Islamabad: The federal government on Sunday urged Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to change the venue of his planned sit-in from outside the Supreme Court to D-Chowk in Islamabad.
Fazl, who is also head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), had announced staging a “peaceful” sit-in outside the apex court on Monday (tomorrow) against Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial for “facilitating” and giving “VIP protocol” to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, following a meeting of PDM parties’ heads, also attended by PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif from London via video link.
In what could be called a U-turn, Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar called on Maulana Fazl and urged him not to stage the sit-in outside the top court to prevent further tension in the country.
“The government wants the PDM to hold the protest at the D-Chowk,” Dar said, adding that law and order situation was already created a few days ago.
He made the remarks while referring to the countrywide violent protests that were triggered by Imran Khan’s arrest from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 9. The Rangers personnel had taken the PTI chairman into custody — acting on National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) warrant — in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Setting aside their request, Fazl said that convoys from all over the country have left for Islamabad: “We have announced [about sit-in] and now the decision will be made in people’s court tomorrow [Monday].”
He assured the ministers that the protest will remain “peaceful”. The PDM chairman said that the nation will take to the street tomorrow.
A day earlier, inviting workers of all political parties to join the protest, the PDM chief had said that the sit-in in Islamabad outside the SC will continue until the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial resigns.
