ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday morning ordered the district administration to defer by 24 hours an operation of security forces against protesters camped at the Faizabad Interchange.
The minister’s orders to allow the protesters more time to disperse before taking action came shortly after a heavy contingent of Islamabad police, Frontier Corps and Rangers personnel arrived at the Faizabad Interchange early Saturday morning. Television footage had shown security personnel dressed in riot gear.
The decision to defer the operation was made after talks with the protesters. The district administration was not included in the talks between the government and the participants.
It was decided that Senator Raja Zafarul Haq would head a negotiating team, which is expected to hold a second round of talks with religious leaders and scholars. The talks were ongoing on Saturday evening.
The protesters belonging to various religious parties had been calling for the sacking of Law Minister Zahid Hamid and strict action against those behind the amendment to the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat oath in the Elections Act, 2017, which had earlier been deemed a ‘clerical error’.
On Thursday, the National Assembly had passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2017 to restore Khatm-e-Nabuwwat laws to their original form and make sections relating to it “more effective”.
In light of Thursday’s development, Ahsan Iqbal said that the religious groups’ protest ? which has been ongoing since November 8 ? is no longer justified.
In a continuing effort to find a peaceful solution to the protest, which has disrupted life in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for over a week, the minister appealed to the religious leaders to call off the protest. He added that it was a legal obligation on the protesters to adhere to the orders of the Islamabad High Court, which had a day earlier directed the capital administration to get the Faizabad Interchange cleared within 24 hours.
Published in Daily Times, November 19th 2017.
