Summary National Assembly session delayed following the sit-in protest by PTI and PAT.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Following Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri’s sit-in protest outside parliament, the National Assembly session has been delayed on Wednesday, Dunya news reported. The National Assembly session was due to be held at 10 AM, however, because the members of National Assembly could not reach the Parliament House, the session of National Assembly was delayed. Carrying cameras inside the Parliament House has been banned.
The entrance to the Parliament House was not acceptable to the assembly members as Tens of thousands of protesters led by ex-cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan and a populist cleric Tahirul Qadri have staged sit-in outside the Parliament House on Wednesday in a bid to depose the prime minister, bringing a week-long political drama to a head. Therefore, the route from the Cabinet Division is being taken.
AFP reported that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chairman Tahir-ul-Qadri claim last year s general election was rigged and have demanded Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif s resignation.
Their five-day protest rally in Islamabad, and the two-day "long marches" from the eastern city of Lahore that preceded it, have piled pressure on the government little more than a year since its landslide victory.
The government had ordered them not to enter the capital s "red zone", which houses key buildings including parliament, the prime minister s house and numerous Western embassies.
But Khan and Qadri defied the call and soon after midnight on Wednesday thousands of their supporters entered the high-security red zone, using cranes to remove shipping containers put in place to seal the area.
Tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed to maintain order and on Tuesday evening the government doubled the contingent of soldiers guarding sensitive buildings in the red zone to 700.
Despite fears of violence, there were no major clashes as the protesters entered the red zone, and the government pledged restraint.
"We will avoid use of force, human lives are much more precious for us, they have brought innocent children and women," said information minister Pervez Rashid.
Both Khan and Qadri have ordered their followers, who number an estimated 35,000, to avoid violence as they stage sit-in protests outside parliament.
"We will protest in front of the parliament, we will not enter inside but will stage such a big crowd that people will forget Tahrir Square," Khan told cheering followers.
He said if Sharif did not resign by Wednesday evening, he would lead his supporters to the prime minister s official residence.
