Islamabad is heating up. Imran Khan has threatened to storm the Prime Minister House if Nawaz Sharif does not resign before the expiry of a so-called deadline from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief. Pakistan Awami Tehrik chief Tahirul Qadri has promised his followers that accountability would be ensured for the “corrupt” rulers. The army has broken its silence and has publicly urged both the government and the protesting political parties to exercise restraint and find a way out of the crisis through dialogue. Follow our live updates below. --- 2:17pm | Supreme Court issues notice to Imran, Qadri The Supreme Court of Pakistan issued notices to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri during the hearing of a petition filed by the Lahore High Courts Multan Bar Association. A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk admitted the petition, filed by the Lahore High Courts Multan Bar Association and issued notices to the concerned parties while adjourning the next hearing of the case until tomorrow (Thursday 9:30 am). Read more --- 2:09pm | Storm the PM house? Protesters are advancing towards the PM house, apparently in a bid to storm the building. A massive contingent of police and other security forces stand on-guard outside. A clash seems imminent. --- 2:00pm | PM enjoys support of all parliamentarians: Khawaja Asif Speaking on TV, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enjoyed the support of all parliamentarians, adding that he could not be removed from his office in an unconstitutional manner. The defence minister said that if the tradition of protests continued, then every second person would gather people in order to form a government. Asif said on no account would Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down from office. --- 1:30pm | Cannot allow attack on Parliament: Shazia Marri Addressing the National Assembly session, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia Marri said we would not let anyone attack the Constitution and the Parliament, adding that freedom did not mean disparaging the Parliament’s supremacy. Marri said those who were instigating civil disobedience were also a part of the government. “I am going to hold everyone who has abused the Constitution of Pakistan responsible,” Marri said. --- 1:00 pm | Qadri orders activists to lay siege to Parliament Pakistan Awami Tehreek chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Wednesday said that he had allowed legislators to enter the National Assembly so that all the prey was gathered at one spot. He also ordered supporters to lay siege to Parliament. In a speech delivered to his supporters outside parliament Qadri warned the government that the revolution had not begun on Aug 14 but had been in process for more than three weeks. I cannot let the elderly and sick remain in agony. I cannot control my people for long. If too much control is exerted then my supporters will turn against me, he added. --- 12:30 pm | Parties united for protecting constitution: Fazl Addressing a session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that all the political parties were united on the same page for protecting the constitution and the Parliament. The JUI-F leader also said that they wanted to safeguard the country from plunging into a civil war. --- 12:15 pm | PM Nawaz attends NA session Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reached the Parliament House as a session of the National Assembly commenced on Wednesday. The assembly session is being presided over by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, as thousands of anti-government protesters remain outside the National Assembly building. The meeting came as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan threatened to storm the Prime Minister House if Nawaz Sharif does not resign before the expiry of a deadline given by his party. Last night supporters of the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek marched towards the Parliament House in a move directed to take resignation from the premier. --- 12:00 pm | Punjab Governor Sarwar to meet PTI leadership Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday has decided to make another attempt to engage Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in talks to hear his demands. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the premier at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad. Credible sources told Dawn that the meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar as well as other key ministers and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz leaders. The meeting discussed the overall situation of the country and it was decided that Sarwar would contact both PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leadership in order to convince them to call off their marches. The PTI and PAT have been protesting against alleged rigging in the 2013 elections and are calling for the resignation of PM Nawaz whose government they call the outcome of a rigged election. Also read: Saad Rafique denies statement on PM-Imran meeting --- 11:45 am | No coup Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been assured by military that there will be no coup, but in return he must “share space with the army”, according to a government source who was privy to recent talks between the two sides. Last week, Sharif dispatched two emissaries to consult with the army chief. He wanted to know if the military was quietly engineering the twin protest movements by Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri, or if, perhaps, it was preparing to stage a coup. According to a government insider with a first-hand account of the meeting, Sharifs envoys returned with good news and bad: there will be no coup but if he wants his government to survive, from now on it will have to share space with the army. Read more. --- 11:30 am | Saad Rafique denies statement on PM-Imran meeting Federal Minister Saad Rafique has denied making any statement regarding a decision by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over meeting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan. Rafique said he did not have an account on the microblogging website Twitter from where the statement originated. The tweet had stated that Nawaz had decided to meet Imran for the sake of the country. --- 11:15 am | Ex-military men back call for dissolution of assemblies The Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association, headed by Retired Vice Admiral Ahmed Tasnim, has jumped into the fray by supporting the call for dissolution of assemblies, formation of a caretaker government, introduction of electoral reforms and appointment of an independent election commission to hold fresh elections. The association’s executive council held a meeting in Rawalpindi to discuss ‘current crises-like political situation prevailing in the country’. The participants said political leaders had failed to rise above party affiliations at the cost of country’s interests, says a press release issued by the association. According to it, the government and parliament have failed to perform their institutional functions and fulfill their responsibilities to address serious issues being raised through public protests. The ex-servicemen, who call themselves ‘former military strategists’ expressed concern at the failure of the government to implement orders of the additional session judge of Lahore to register the FIR of the Model Town killings, and termed it an instance of contempt of court and breach of fundamental rights of people enshrined in the constitution. --- 11:00 am | PAT supporter dies under mysterious circumstances A PAT supporter detained in the recent police crackdown in Punjab died on Wednesday under mysterious circumstances in the central jail of Gujranwala city. The 35-year-old Shoaib was a resident of the Noor Bawa area of Gujranwala and had left home on the eve of August 13 to attend the march following which he was detained. Jail authorities handed Shoaib’s body to his family after conducting a postmortem. The report of the post mortem has not come yet. Police sources claim Shoaib died due to a heart attack. However, his brother Hayat said Shoaib was subjected to torture during detention that led to his passing.Dawn News
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 09:37:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015