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Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed ministers and leaders of his party not to pass any negative comments on Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT) decision to wind up its more than two weeks-old anti-government sit-in in Islamabad.
In a statement following the announcement of the decision on Tuesday night by PAT chief Tahirul Qadri, the prime minister asked ministers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) activists to shun arrogance and focus on development of the country.
While PAT workers, including a large number of women, dispersed and left for homes in different cities, Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were continuing their sit-in at the same venue near the parliament.
Admitting failure to achieve the avowed objection of forcing the prime minister to resign, Qadri emphasised that the PAT campaign was highly rewarding creating awareness among people about their rights and paramount need for change and revolutionary reforms.
Speaking to reporters in front of parliament, Qadri said: “This phase of the Revolution March in Islamabad is now over and participants can go back home.”
He added the focus of the protests would now shift to cities across the country, including Karachi, the main commercial hub.
“You should now pack up and go back home with a sense of victory,” he added without elaborating.
The hundreds of Qadri supporters who remain camped in tents in recent weeks comprise the majority of the protesters at the site and their withdrawal could effectively end the sit-in.
The PAT leader said he would now expand his movement nationwide and hold demonstrations and rallies in cities across the country.
Qadri’s conciliatory move was received with satisfaction and sense of joy in the ruling circles and PML-N activists expected the PTI to realise the futility of their demand for Sharif’s resignation and call off its sit-in soon.
A PML-N parliamentarian said: “It is a welcome development that Qadri has chosen to become part of the democratic system and lead his party into elections whenever they are held.”
Political commentators saw the PAT decision as a success of the policy of restraint pursued by the government, which avoided use of force to clear the demonstrators from the sensitive zone of the capital.
Tahirul Qadri arrived in Islamabad in mid-August along with cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and thousands of their supporters, with the aim of forcing Prime Minister Sharif to step down over alleged rigging in last year’s election.
The protests unnerved the government, shook investor confidence and triggered speculation that the country’s powerful army would intervene as it had in the past.
Tension peaked at the end of August with violent clashes that saw three protesters killed as they attempted to storm parliament, but cooled once it became clear the military was not prepared to topple Sharif.
