Pakistan’s embattled government on Tuesday said it has reached an agreement with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s party, which is seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on most of the issues, except one which is “non-negotiable.”
“One of their demands is non-negotiable for us,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is part of the government’s negotiation team, said apparently referring to the main demand of Mr. Sharif’s resignation.
The government and Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) have reached an agreement on most other points, he said.
“PTI has also expressed its final position on another demand,” Mr. Dar said without elaborating after the end of the latest round of negotiations to end the 27-day crisis that has disrupted the country. As the talks resumed, the protesters led by Mr. Khan and fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri shifted their sit-ins to D-Chowk from the Constitution Avenue.
The move comes in the wake of news that the Chinese President Xi Jinping had postponed his trip to Pakistan owing to the uncertainty in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Mr. Khan asked the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the 800 containers placed around Islamabad to block off roads.
“CJP [Chief Justice of Pakistan], either order authorities to remove these containers, or we will remove it by force,” said Mr. Khan.
Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri have remained firm in their demand for Prime Minister Sharif’s resignation.
Mr. Khan and Mr. Qadri have been protesting in front of Parliament since mid-August to force the Prime Minister’s resignation over alleged rigging in the 2013 general election won by Mr. Sharif’s PML-N party.
Mr. Khan had said he will not go back without forcing Premier Sharif to resign and asked his party leaders to bring more people to the sit-in. Mr. Khan’s call for extending the protest by two weeks has come at a time when he is already facing criticism for continuing the protests even as the country has been hit by the worst floods in its history.
