The police had virtually besieged Qadri in his Model Town residence of Lahore by placing containers but they have now been withdrawn by the government. Pakistan's intelligence agencies have reported to the government that there are chances of bloodshed if Qadri and his supporters are stopped by force.
“Qadri may use women and children in his caravan as human shield to break in the police cordon,” according to one such report.
“We are allowing Dr Qadri to hold his march after he gave guarantee that his supporters would remain peaceful,” Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar told PTI by phone. He said neither the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf nor the Pakistan Awami Tahreek (PAT) workers would be allowed to hold sit-in in Red Zone of Islamabad.
“The government has showed big heart and allowed both parties to hold their protest and now they should not take law and order into their hands during their protests,” the governor said.
Qazi Faiz, a spokesman for PAT, told PTI that the government allowed its workers to proceed for the protest march after knowing that it could not stop the followers of Qadri from reaching Islamabad.
“We are peaceful people and the history of our party shows that we have never ever taken law into our hands,” he said.
Before leaving for Islamabad, Khan also asked protesters at his residence to accompany him to Islamabad for a “new Pakistan”.
“To get freedom one has to fight. We will lay a new Pakistan's foundation after reaching Islamabad,” he said, appealing to people to come out of their houses and join him for in the struggle for the “creation of new Pakistan”. Khan has already underlined his demands, saying Prime Minister Sharif should resign and a caretaker government should be formed for holding a fresh general election in the country.
Qadri on the other hand announced bringing about a revolution by overthrowing the Sharif-led government.
