ISLAMABAD, Nov 04 (DNA): An All Parties Conference (APC) of the
opposition parties on Monday decided to continue sit-in for two more
days.

The decision was taken during an all parties conference summoned by
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for
planning a joint course of action for the Azadi marchers to proceed for
increasing pressure on the government. All opposition parties had been
invited to attend the APC.

Sources said that the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) supported to continue sit-in for two more days.

The PPP and PML-N are not against staging sit-in at Peshawar Mor but
against staging sit-in at D-Chowk.

Both the opposition parties opposed marching towards D-Chowk and staging
sit-in.

Sources further said that the sit-in would continue until the
government’s negotiating team and opposition’s Rehbar Committee reach
any conclusion.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly and PML-N President
Shehbaz Sharif and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have not attended
an all-party conference headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal had announced that party president Shehbaz
Sharif would not attend the conference, and the party delegation will
instead be lead by former NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

Iqbal made the announcement after the PML-N decided to throw its full
support behind the JUI-F led Azadi March. Ahsan was speaking to the
media after a party meeting held under PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif’s
chairmanship ended in Lahore.

Iqbal added that the PML-N’s point of view will be presented before the
Rehbar committee, adding that opposition should stand on a united
platform in their struggle against the government.

Yesterday, following a meeting of JUI-F leadership, veteran politician
Fazlur Rehman decided to continue the sit-in protest campaign. The
meeting discussed the Rehbar Committee’s recommendations including
resignations, shutter down strike across the country and countywide
wheel-jam strike.

The JUI-F chief decided to summon an APC on the issue of sit-in, while
head of the Rehbar Committee Akram Durrani has been tasked to contact
the opposition parties for the APC.

Earlier, the opposition’s Rehbar Committee recommended a plan to shift
the protest venue to D-Chowk, resignation of opposition members of the
National Assembly, blocking highways and indefinite shutter-down strike
to cripple functioning of the federal government. However, the plans
appear to be keep on changing citing new developments in the capital
city.

On Saturday, the JUI-F chief vowed to topple the ruling regime and run
the country. Addressing the participants of the Islamabad sit-in, he
said that writ of the incumbent government has ended and now “we will
run the country”.

He said: “We will provide satisfaction and protection to the country.”
Fazl asked the government to “step down and don’t test our patience”. He
vowed to continue protest until the toppling of the government.

On Friday, the JUI-F chief had given a two-day deadline to Prime
Minister Imran Khan for resignation or else he said: “We will be forced
to think of another strategy”. Fazl, while welcoming the leaders of
political parties in Azadi March, said they [the protesters] would not
be able to exercise patience after two days.

As the JUI-F has raised its stakes in a protest campaign that the
government has denounced as a threat to democracy, the government has
refused to accept the Rehbar Committee’s demands which have led to
persistent deadlock.

The JUI-F chief had said this was not a gathering of any single
political party but a gathering of whole nation, adding that the nation
has stood against the government on one platform. He further said: “We
do not accept results of 2018 general elections.”

On the other hand, the government while tightening the security
arrangements, blocked the roads leading to the Red Zone. Around 9,000
police personnel had been deployed from Zero Point to Red Zone and tear
gas canisters, Shields and other items have been provided.

The district administration and police have blocked the Serena Chowk,
Nadra Chowk, Express Chowk, Marriot and Bari Imam by parking containers
filled with dust. Pakistan Army and Rangers have been deployed at the
sensitive buildings.

Sources say the law enforcers have already devised a plan to keep the
protesters confined to the designated H-9 venue and not to allow them to
move to some other place.

The federal government appears determined to block the Azadi March from
leaving its designated protest site after Fazl threatened to march on
D-Chowk today if the prime minister does not resign.

Interior Minister Ejaz Shah chaired a meeting attended by
representatives of the army and Rangers, and the Islamabad chief
commissioner and the police chief.

Meanwhile, thousands of additional policemen have been provided and
deployed to the administration of Islamabad Capital Territory. Moreover,
police’s complete command structure and anti-riot gear have also been
provided to the administration.

DIG Operations Waqarud Din Syed said that they were ready to deal with
any situation.

Pakistan’s powerful military said it supported the country’s elected
government and the constitution. “We believe in the law and the
constitution and our support is with the democratically elected
government, not with any party,” military spokesman Major General Asif
Ghafoor said in comments to a television news channel late on Friday.

The military has denied meddling in politics and Khan has dismissed the
calls to step down. The leader of the protest, religious party chief
Fazlur Rehman, told a rally of tens of thousands of supporters that he
did not want a “collision with institutions”, a thinly veiled reference
to the military, and called on them to be impartial.

The ISPR said Rehman should know the military was impartial and it
should not be dragged into politics. Army chief General Qamar Javed
Bajwa on Friday urged the government to handle the protest peacefully.

The government, struggling to get the economy on track, has denounced
the protests as a threat to the constitution and to democracy and has
said it will not be allowed to paralyse the capital.

Rehman, leader of the conservative JUI-F party, is a veteran politician
who can mobilise significant support in religious schools across the
country. Protesters are camped out at the rally site, cooking food and
resting. DNA