Pakistan’s law minister resigns to end capital’s siege

Law minister Zahid Hamid stepped down early Monday bringing an end to a three-week protest outside capital Islamabad, state-run Pakistan Television reported.

Hamid’s resignation had been demanded by religious groups over the omission of a reference to the Prophet Muhammad in a parliamentary bill.

Despite the mistake being rectified and blamed on a “clerical error”, it sparked a protest on Islamabad’s outskirts that blocked the main highway to Rawalpindi.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi accepted Hamid’s resignation, Pakistan Television reported.

“I have resigned voluntarily to pull the country out of the crisis,” Hamid was quoted as saying by broadcaster Geo TV.

His departure came hours after the head of the army, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, advised Abbasi to “peacefully” resolve the crisis, local media reported.

On Saturday, seven people were killed and hundreds hospitalized as police moved to break up the demonstration.

The casualties sparked wider protests across the country and led to protest leader Khadim Hussein Rizvi, of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Pakistan, calling for the resignation of the entire Cabinet.

The violence saw vehicles and buildings torched and led the government to call in the army on Saturday.

The following day, Abbasi chaired meetings with senior officials including the army chief and was reportedly advised to retreat from confrontation to avoid further violence.

Speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, an army officer told Anadolu Agency that Bajwa advised the avoidance of force and the restoration of TV news.

Military role

Following the meeting, a two-day block of news channels was lifted across the country and social media sites were restored. 

On Sunday, the government assigned paramilitary Rangers to deal with the protests.

The Interior Ministry said the Rangers had been tasked to “handle” the Islamabad sit-in. However, they were not called into action.

After Hamid quit, Rizvi and other protest leaders announced an end to the nationwide sit-ins and declared an agreement reached with the government “our success”.

Television footage showed protesters packing up and preparing to leave the site outside Islamabad, as well as protest camps in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta and other cities.

According to the agreement between the demonstrators and the government, the protest leaders have promised not to issue a religious decree, or fatwa, against Hamid. Hundreds of protesters will be released from police custody.

Both sides welcomed the military’s role in diffusing the situation but the High Court in Islamabad criticized the involvement of the army.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who earlier had declared the sit-in to be a “terrorist act”, on Monday questioned Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on the army’s role and suggested soldiers had acted unconstitutionally in dealing with the protests, Geo TV reported.

In the wake of the crisis, an investigation will be launched into the causes of the violence and the government will report to a Senate committee on the amendment that led to protests, the broadcaster added.

Hamid and the ruling Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz were accused of deliberately modifying the clause relating to the Prophet Muhammad to favor a minority sect.

Under the clause, voters registering for elections were to declare their belief that Muhammad was the final prophet. Otherwise, their names were to be put on a separate electoral role for Ahmadis, a minority sect that parliament declared to be outside Islam in 1974.