ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal on Thursday said that he was directly involved in negotiating process with the leaders of those protesting at Faizabad interchange in the capital. Speaking here at the National Assembly, the minister said: “We have a strong belief on the finality of Prophethood. We have strong affiliation with the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and no one can even think of any compromise on it.” He said the whole Parliament would defend if there was any issue in this regard. The minister said that people were suffering due to the protests. “The teachings of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) tell us about mercy and compassion with the people,” he added. He said that people remained stuck in traffic for hours and patients could not reach hospitals and students to school. “The entire education system in twin cities is suffering and the government has asked these protestors to end agitation at earliest,” he said. He said there were some elements amongst them who wanted to create anarchy. “Pakistan-China Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC), the highest forum of CPEC has to meet in Islamabad in near future and such agitation should be ended at the earliest,” he said. He said that the Islamabad High Court had also asked the protesters to end their agitation and they should follow the court orders. Published in Daily Times, November 17th 2017.