Islamabad, Pakistan: A Pakistani hardline Islamist group whose supporters clashed with police over the weekend is to call off its weeks-long protest after the government agreed to its demands and the law minister resigned, the group's spokesman said today.
Seven people were killed and 200 wounded in the clashes after a police bid to disperse the protesters failed on Saturday, sparking instead demonstrations in other major cites nationwide.
"Our main demand has been accepted," Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman of the Tahreek-e-Labaik group, told Reuters. "Government will announce the law minister's resignation and we will end our sit-in today."
The government on Saturday called in Pakistan's powerful military to tackle the protests after the police operation failed, but there was no sign of troops around the protest camps on Sunday.
The party says the words "I believe", used to replace the clause "I solemnly swear" in a proclamation of Mohammad as the religion's last prophet amount to blasphemy.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Seven people were killed and 200 wounded in the clashes after a police bid to disperse the protesters failed on Saturday, sparking instead demonstrations in other major cites nationwide.
"Our main demand has been accepted," Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesman of the Tahreek-e-Labaik group, told Reuters. "Government will announce the law minister's resignation and we will end our sit-in today."
The government on Saturday called in Pakistan's powerful military to tackle the protests after the police operation failed, but there was no sign of troops around the protest camps on Sunday.
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The party says the words "I believe", used to replace the clause "I solemnly swear" in a proclamation of Mohammad as the religion's last prophet amount to blasphemy.
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(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
© Thomson Reuters 2017
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