Govt asks Maulana Fazl not to stage sit-in outside SC

Islamabad: The Coalition government on Sunday called on Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and leader of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), to change the venue of their planned sit-in from outside the Supreme Court to D-Chowk in Islamabad.

The PDM had announced a "peaceful" sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Monday to protest against Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial for decision in Al-Qadir Trust case against PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, however, 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 the law and order situation had already been created a few days ago. This referred to the countrywide violent protests started after arrest of Imran Khan from the Islamabad High Court on May 9. The Rangers personnel had taken the PTI chairman into custody, acting on the National Accountability Bureau's warrant, in the Al-Qadir Trust case. At least 10 people were killed and dozens of others sustained injuries during the days-long protests. Internet services also remain suspended for more than five days across the country.

Setting aside the government's request, Fazl said that convoys from all over the country have left for Islamabad and that the decision will be made in people's court tomorrow (Monday). He assured the ministers that the protest would remain "peaceful," and the PDM chairman said that the nation would take to the streets tomorrow.

Later, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Sanaullah said intelligence agencies had cautioned him about staging the protest in the red zone or Constitutional Avenue area of the federal capital. For this reason, the security czar said they had requested PDM chief Fazl to change the venue of the protest demonstration, and added that the latter had sought time to take the final decision in this regard.

After the announcement of the JUI-F protest sit-in outside the Supreme Court, the workers started their movements, with the main departure of the workers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday morning. The JUI-F leader Maulana Ahmad Ali Darwish said that the caravans of the JUI-F workers would depart from each district according to their schedule and all convoys would reach Haklah Interchange on Monday afternoon.