Although, Khan is unflinching in his demand for the premier's resignation, observers said the party chairman has “no option left” as his earlier calls for a civil disobedience movement and the mass resignation of PTI lawmakers from assemblies have yielded no results.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan today removed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Aftab Cheema from his position. DIG Headquarters Khalid Khattak has been appointed the acting IGP. Khan alleged that Cheema was removed because he refused to give orders of baton-charging protesters.
Amid speculation that the government might crackdown on protesters, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that no action had been carried out against PTI and PAT protesters in Islamabad and this trend is going to continue. He said no such step had been taken by the government which could be termed as a reason for suspending negotiations.
Senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the decision to suspend talks had been conveyed to Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and it was taken because the government's actions were opposite to their dialogue call. “Police has begun crackdown against PTI workers and is once again blocking roads in Islamabad,” he said. Development minister Ahsan Iqbal told media that second round of negotiations with Khan's team was scheduled at 1 pm. “We waited for them but they did not turn up for talks,” he said.
Qadri, whose thousands of supporters have combined with Khan's supporters, stayed put in the ‘Red Zone'. The anti-government protesters are still camping outside the Parliament in the ‘Red Zone' where important government buildings including the Parliament House, Prime Minister House, President House, the Supreme Court besides the embassies are housed.
A five-member government team had met with a six-member committee of Khan's party late last night but the two sides failed to make any headway.
The first round of talks between the government and Qadri-led PAT also could not make progress as the cleric's representatives demanded Sharif's resignation. Khan, in his speech today criticised the US for its statement against “any extra-constitutional changes” in Pakistan, saying it is adopting a different policy for the country over poll rigging.
“Why the United States is following a different policy for Pakistan when it would never accept election results in their own country if there had been rigging,” he said. Khan and Qadri have both alleged rigging in the polls last year and called for a re-election. In the elections, Sharif's PML-N had won 190 out of 342 seats. Khan's PTI got 34 seats, the third largest bloc in the legislature.
Pakistan's National Assembly today unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the anti-government protesters' demand for Sharif's resignation and dissolution of the Parliament. The army had earlier asked all stakeholders in the crisis to hold “meaningful” talks to end the crisis. The army, which has so far been passive in the confrontation between the government and protesters, has a history of capturing power from democratically elected governments.
