The Pakistani Supreme Court has called for the arrest of the Prime Minister over a corruption scandal. The news was met with elation by thousands of protesters in the capital, who called for the dissolution of parliament on the grounds of corruption.
Minister Raja Pervaiz allegedly received kickbacks and commissions in an ongoing case over a rental power plant project.
Followers of Canadian-Pakistani Sufi cleric Muhammad Tahirul Qadri marched through Islamabad as part of a two-day mass protest again government corruption. Qadri demanded that the Pakistani parliament dissolve itself by 11:00am local time (06:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
“Morally, your government and your assemblies have ended tonight,” he said in a public address on Monday. ”I will give [the government] a deadline until tomorrow to dissolve the federal parliament and provincial assemblies. After that, the people’s assembly here will take their own decision.”
The situation spiraled out of control when the deadline passed, as scuffles broke out between protesters and the police. Officers fired tear gas shells at the ground and shots into the air to disperse the crowd.
Qadri’s supports pelted police with stones and beat them with sticks. Six activists were allegedly injured in the altercation. In an email to AP, Qadri blamed the security forces for the violence, claiming that they attempted to arrest him.
Thousands continued to rally in central Islamabad in support of the cleric after the spate of violence. A city official told Reuters that there were around 30,000 people remaining the streets.
Barricades were set up around government buildings in the center of Islamabad, and additional security personnel have been deployed. Mobile phone networks have also been shut down in the area, as authorities fear cellphones could be used to detonate bombs.
Qadri has demanded that the Pakistani governmental elections scheduled for this spring should be delayed until corruption is stamped out in the current regime.
The Pakistani government warned that they will not concede the cleric’s demands following the outbreak of violence.”We will not accept Qadri’s pressure because his demands are unconstitutional,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told local television channels.
(RT)
