ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Sunday failed to convince Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUIF) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to change the venue of his scheduled sit-in from outside the Supreme Court to D Chowk. federal capital.
Maulana Fazal, who also heads the multi-party ruling alliance – Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), had on Monday (today) announced a “peaceful” sit-in against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar outside the Supreme Court. Atta Bandyal for giving “facilitation” and “VIP protocol” to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, after a meeting of PDM party chiefs, in which PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif also participated from London via video link.
Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar met Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence and urged him not to stage a dharna outside the Supreme Court to prevent further tension in the country.
“The government wants the PDM to protest at D Chowk,” Dar said, adding that the law and order situation had already developed a few days ago.
Brushing aside their request, Fazal said convoys from across the country had left for Islamabad: “We have announced [about the sit-in] and now the decision will be in the people’s court.” He assured the ministers that the protest would remain “peaceful”.
A day earlier, inviting workers of all political parties to join the protest, the PDM chief had said that the sit-in outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad would continue until Chief Justice Bandyal resigned. .
He said that this dharna will be given against the protection given to a ‘criminal’ by the Supreme Court and the three-member bench of the Islamabad High Court.
After announcing a protest sit-in outside the Supreme Court, JUIF workers started their movement from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday morning.
Talking to reporters, JUIF leader Maulana Ahmad Ali Darwish said that convoys of party workers will leave from each district as per their schedule and all convoys will reach Hakla Interchange on Monday afternoon.
Darwish further said that the convoy from Peshawar city will depart from JUIF center at 9 am on Monday. He further said that after reaching Hakla Interchange, all convoys from KP will proceed to the Supreme Court in the form of central convoy.
According to JUIF Sindh Secretary General Allama Rashid Mehmood Soomro, a convoy of party workers left Karachi on Sunday from Sohrab Goth to join the sit-in.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) have separately asked their leaders and workers to participate in the sit-in.
Also, while addressing a press conference with Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb in Islamabad on Sunday, the interior minister expressed concern over the PDM protest, saying “a large number of angry protesters intend to participate in the sit-in.” are doing”.
Sana said that an intelligence report indicated that protesting in the red zone or Constitutional Avenue area of the federal capital could lead to a tense situation.
Agencies have estimated that the protesters plan to participate in the PDM protest in large numbers and are angry with Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial over the verdicts of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court.
“We fear that if the protest takes place in the red zone area, it will become difficult for the administration to handle the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Attaullah Tarar reiterated that the protest sit-in outside the Supreme Court will continue until the Chief Justice resigns from his post.
SAPM said that JUIF is an organized party and its workers are bound to follow the instructions of the party.
He said that all security measures have been taken and the workers of the ruling parties will hold a peaceful protest against the Chief Justice.
