Pakistan was on edge on Thursday with protesters headed by Imran Khan and cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri insisting they will not accept anything short of Premier Nawaz Sharif's resignation, even as the government agreed to register a murder case against the embattled Prime Minister.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Qadri have snapped communications with the official negotiators after the fifth round of talks failed to produce any result last night. "It has been decided that an FIR will be registered against Shahbaz Sharif, but he has decided that he will not resign," Khan said, adding that he will soon announce on the future course of action.
After talks with the government failed late last night, Qadri said, "I announce with regret that out talks with the government have failed. We will now shut the door on any further talks."
Qadri has termed on Thursday as a 'Day of Revolution' and promised to make a big announcement by the evening. Amid mounting pressure from the protesters, Sharif chaired a high-level meeting in the capital to discuss the current political crisis, media reports said.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid, Minister Saad Rafique and Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt Gen Retd Abdul Qadir Baloch
It was decided in the meeting that neither the premier nor Chief Minister Punjab province Shahbaz will step down and the federal and provincial assemblies will also not be dissolved, Dawn News reported.
Meanwhile, softening its stand under pressure, the government on Thursday accepted a key demand of Qadri by agreeing to register a murder case against 21 people, including Prime Minister Sharif, for their alleged role in the clashes that killed 14 supporters of the cleric.
Later, media reports said the FIR was registered as per the demand of the families affected by the clashes in Lahore's Model Town area on June 17.
The Lahore Sessions Court hearing the case related to the clashes had ordered police to register a murder case earlier this month against 21 persons named by the Qadri-led PAT in its complaint.
Pakistani police, however, had refused to register the murder case against?
Prime Minister Sharif, his brother and Punjab province Chief Minister Shahbaz and some top Cabinet ministers despite the court order on framing of charges.
During the meeting he chaired today, Sharif also said he along with other ministers named in the FIR, he will extend full cooperation in investigations into the Model Town incident.
The court had ordered the registration of a murder case against Sharif, Shahbaz, his nephew Hamza Shahbaz, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Railways Minister Rafique, Information Minister Rashid, State Minister Abid Sher Ali (also a relative of the Sharif), Punjab former law minister Rana Sanaullah and top police officers who took part in the "barricades removal operation".
Qadri has also demanded that after the registration of the case, both Sharif brothers should resign.
Political stalemate has continued for the last two weeks with Khan-led PTI and Qadri's PAT refusing to budge from their demand of the Prime Minister's resignation over allegations of rigging in last year's general election and killing of 14 PAT supporters in Lahore on June 17.
The protesters have been sitting in front of the Parliament House and the Supreme Court building since August 19, demanding Sharif's resignation.
Sharif cancelled today's planned visit to Turkey to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Tayyab Erdogan who has won the presidential polls. Now president Mamnoon Hussain will represent Pakistan there.
The pressure on the PML-N government mounted after Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain asked Sharif to accept the legal demands of Qadri. Days after its lawmakers resigned from the National Assembly, PTI's Punjab Assembly members yesterday submitted their resignations, stepping up pressure on the embattled government.
Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly and PTI member Mehmoodur Rashid and 28 other party members handed their resignations from the house in the Punjab Assembly Secretariat.
The judicial commission investigating the June 17 Model Town incident, in which 14 of Qadri's supporters were killed, has held the government responsible for it and said police acted on government orders which led to the bloodshed.
The report said the affidavits of Chief Minister Shahbaz and former law minister Rana Sanaullah contained contradictions regarding the orders they reportedly issued to police to disengage, and declared that what happened on the ground did not match such claims.
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