PAKISTAN-PROTESTS UPDATE Anti-government and pro-government supporterts hold rallies in Pakistan

Record ID: 322699

  • Title: PAKISTAN-PROTESTS UPDATE Anti-government and pro-government supporterts hold rallies in Pakistan
  • Date: 24th August 2014
  • Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 24, 2014) (REUTERS) CRICKETER-TURNED-POLITICIAN, IMRAN KHAN ON STAGE/SUPPORTERS WAVING PARTY FLAGS SMALL GIRL WAVING PARTY FLAG ELDERLY MAN DRESSED IN GREEN WAVING PAKISTAN FLAG VARIOUS OF CROWD WAVING HANDS WITH MUSIC SUPPORTERS IN FRONT OF STAGE SUPPORTERS RAISING HANDS WITH PARTY SONG
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2V6QKUIJB44FIBAO1R3DELU8M
  • Story Text: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan kept up demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation as hundreds of Sharif supporters burned Khan's picture in a counter protest in Pakistani capital Islamabad on Sunday (August 24).
    Anti-government protests led by opposition leader Imran Khan and populist cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, trying to bring down Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, continued in Islamabad on Sunday (August 24) after a week of demonstrations..
    "I want to tell Nawaz Sharif once again, I don't know for how many days I have been living in this pigeon-house (bullet-proof container), I am a free man but I will live in this pigeon-house till your resignation," Khan told thousands of supporters," Khan told supporters.
    "We are capable of carrying out country-wide shutdown and wheel-jam strike. We will not stop. Don't misunderstand that we will back down. We will go forward; your containers can not stop us," he added.
    "We have almost won the match. We have almost won. I have 21 years of experience of winning and losing in cricket grounds."
    A deadlock persisted in negotiations between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Khan to find a solution as the continuing impasse raised fears for the nuclear-armed country's stability.
    According to media reports, both parties agreed on all but one point, the resignation of Sharif.
    The PTI came up with a fresh proposal on Saturday (August 23) for the premier to resign for one month, while a judicial commission investigates whether or not the 2013 general elections had been rigged.
    In an address to the nation on August 11, Sharif requested the Supreme Court to form a three-member commission to probe the 2013 polls. The apex court is yet to respond to the official request.
    Khan demanded that fresh elections should be held if rigging is proved by the judicial commission.
    Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of Sharif rallied in Islamabad. They hit Imran Khan's pictures with shoes and later set them alight.
    Smaller pro-Sharif rallies were held in Multan, Karachi and Sukkur.
    "Imran Khan is doing media trial of our leader. This is spiteful. Nawaz Sharif has shown patience. We are with him. The nation has voted for him. It is his right to complete his five-year tenure as prime minister," said Vaqar Ahmed, a supporters of Nawaz Sharif.
    Former cricketer Khan and Qadri, who controls a network of Islamic schools and hospitals, have been leading protests in Islamabad since last Friday (August 15).
    But with neither the opposition willing to give up on their insistence that Sharif resigns over allegations of corruption and election rigging, nor the prime minister willing to quit after his landslide election, any negotiations soon ended.
    The protests have raised concern about stability in the country of 180 million people, at a time when the government is battling a Taliban insurgency and NATO troops are withdrawing from neighbouring Afghanistan.
    The confrontation has also shone a spotlight on the central issue in Pakistani politics: competition for power between the military and civilian leaders.
    Some ruling party officials have accused elements within the military of orchestrating the protests to weaken the civilian government. The military insists it does not meddle in politics.
    Most analysts doubt the military wants to seize power in a coup, and be forced to take responsibility for the country's dire economy and other problems.
    But there is a widespread perception that the military is benefiting from the protests in terms of its relations with the government, because the government has been forced to rely on it for security.
    On Tuesday (August 19), the military said the two sides should engage in dialogue and warned that government institutions were under its protection.
    There have been indications that the military was frustrated with the government, in particular over the treason trial of former military chief and ex-President Pervez Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in a 1999 coup.
    There has also been disagreement between the government and the army on how to handle the Islamist militants attacking the state, and on relations with old rival India.
    The army has traditionally seen internal security and foreign relations as its domains.
    On Tuesday, protesters used a crane and bolt cutters to force their way past barricades of shipping containers to push into central Islamabad's government and diplomatic heart.
    Khan had threatened to march on the prime minister's house if Sharif did not resign, but later backed off after the military issued a statement calling for dialogue.
    Mursaleen, Qadri's spokesman, said the protesters' demands included the resignation of the entire government and the registration of a murder case against the government over the killing of some of Qadri's supports in clashes with police.
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