Workers started reaching Islamabad on the call of dharna by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
The decision to change the location of the sit-in in Islamabad has not been made, while JUI, Muslim League (N) and PPP convoys have left for Islamabad from various cities of Punjab on the call of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. .
Convoys of (N) League, PP and JUI are reaching Islamabad from Faisalabad, Sargodha, Jahanian, Hafizabad, Mianwali, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and other cities.
Earlier, the federal government on Sunday urged Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) — a multi-party ruling alliance — 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.
