Islamabad [Pakistan], May 16 : After a daylong "peaceful" dharna in Islamabad, the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on Monday called off the sit-in planned against the judiciary for "facilitating" Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, reported Geo News.
PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) made the announcement while addressing a large number of participants of the sit-in outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Monday.
A sit-in outside the Supreme Court was announced by the ruling alliance of 13 political parties had announced to protest the judiciary's "undue facilitation" of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Despite Section 144 still in force in the capital city, demonstrators from various political parties, including JUI-F employees and sympathisers, converged on Islamabad and many of them entered the Red Zone, according to Geo News.
The announcement by Maulana Fazl that he would organise a sit-in outside the Supreme Court to protest Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial for aiding Khan was made on Friday.
The chief of PDM, a multi-party ruling coalition, refused to change his mind and organised a protest march of thousands of workers outside the Supreme Court despite the federal government's plea to do so due to security concerns.
The leader of the JUI-F, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, claimed that the PDM, which is in power, wanted to restore the honour and dignity of the supreme court.
He said that the "historic gathering" in front of the Supreme Court demonstrated the importance of popular decision-making in the nation, Geo News reported.
Additionally, he pledged to defend the Supreme Court building, adding that no one would dare harm the high court while the PDM demonstrators were present.
"We believe in respecting the judiciary. We have held a people's court in Islamabad," he said.
Fazl further blamed the PTI chief Imran Khan's decision to dissolve Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies for the prevailing crisis in the country, according to Geo News.
Earlier on Sunday, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government requested the PDM chief to change the venue of the protest sit-in from outside the Supreme Court to D-Chowk in Islamabad amid security concerns.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah too voiced concerns over the PDM's protest demonstration scheduled outside the Supreme Court on Monday (today), saying "angry protesters in large numbers are intending to attend the sit-in".
Sanaullah said an intelligence report indicated that staging the protest in the red zone or Constitutional Avenue area of the federal capital could create a tense situation, reported Geo News.
"We fear that if this protest takes place in the red zone area [then] it will be difficult for the administration to handle the situation," he remarked.
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