Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says that Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had cancelled their scheduled visits to Pakistan due to the protest sit-ins staged by opposition parties in the federal capital.
“Now the Chinese president is scheduled to travel to Pakistan during which several energy projects will be finalised,” he said and expressed apprehensions that the sit-ins could create hindrance in the visit.
The demonstrations began in Pakistan in mid-August. The supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party leader Imran Khan and the leader of the Minhaj-ul-Quran religious movement Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of election fraud and corruption.
One person was left dead and over 400 people were injured in Pakistan as a result of clashes between protesters Sharif and law enforcement officers in Islamabad, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday.
Clashes with the police began after protesters tried to storm the residence of the prime minister. Around 25,000 Pakistanis participated in the anti-government march. The demonstrators used cranes to remove the barricades and police were forced fire tear gas and rubber bullets in response.
Dissatisfaction with the government is compounded by high unemployment rates and daily electricity outages.
Sharif said on Saturday that this “tiny storm will fizzle out in a few days”. “A few thousand people can’t take democracy and parliament hostage,” he told a gathering of TV anchors and analysts at the residence of a columnist in Lahore.
The premier said it wasn’t possible for him or his government to fulfill the “illogical demands of a few thousands protesters” gathered outside the Parliament House.
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