Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The four-day-long sit-in outside Parliament House along the ‘jugular vein’ of the federal capital came to an end on Wednesday, though peacefully but in an apparent embarrassment for both the government and protesters.

The leadership of pro-Qadri protesters announced to end their sit-in Wednesday evening after agreeing to a seven-point ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the government. The parleys between the sit-in leaders and the government representatives were held at the residence of Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafiq, where besides Kh Saad, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and State Minister for Religious Affairs Peer Amin-ul-Hasanat Shah negotiated on part of the government. The protesters were represented by Hamid Raza Qadri, Sarwat Ajaz Qardi, Asif Jalali and Afzal Qadri, while Owais Noorani and Haji Rafiq Pardasi played the role of mediators.

Where many of the key points from the ‘charter of demands’ originally unveiled by the protesters were not paid heed to by the government in the announced ‘agreement’, the regime had also to retreat on its own announcement of not holding any dialogue with the protesters and purely deal with them according to the law of the land. The defiance by the protesters finally made the government cave in and hold negotiations to resolve the issue peacefully.

The seven-point un-stamped ‘MoU’ seen by Daily Times declares that:

1- No amendment will be made to the blasphemy laws

2-Those convicted under the blasphemy law will not be spared

3-Those arrested during the peaceful protest will be released

4-Fourth Schedule list will be reviewed and the names of the innocent will be expunged

5-Reversal of cases registered against clerics will be considered

6-Clerics will approach PEMRA with relevant proofs against any vulgarity in TV programmes

7-Religious bodies will present recommendations to Ministry of Religious Affairs pertaining to the implementation of Nizam-e-Mustafa (PBUH)

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed that the government managed to end the sit-in through dialogue. But, he maintained, no written agreement was signed with the protestors an only an ‘understanding’ was developed on their seven demands. He said the Interior Ministry was assessing the damages and that legal action would be taken against those who damaged the public property. “Innocent people will be released,” he said.

Railways Minister Kh Saad Rafique, the host of the negotiation sessions, said the religious leaders came to his house on Tuesday and expressed willingness to settle the issues in a peaceful manner. He said chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani) Shah Awais Noorani had also contacted him.

Saad said he welcomed the visiting leaders as his guests. “I told them there was no space for signing a written agreement; that government won’t release those protestors who violated the law and damaged public and government property, and no political leader from the government side would go to D-Chowk to announce the agreement,” he said, and added, “We held discussions and came to an agreement over seven points. That’s it.”

Shah Owais Noorani confirmed that no written agreement was signed with the government over the seven points agreed upon during the negotiations but maintained that the people who were part of the dialogue process are guarantors to it. He said even during the past two sit-ins, there was no written pact between the government and the protesters. “Why you want a written deal this time around?” he argued.

He appreciated the role played by Ishaq Dar and Kh Saad Rafiq for the amicable resolution of the issue. “A disconnect between government and protesters created misunderstandings. We just tried to plug the gaps. The government gave assurances and things were sorted out,” he said, and added that both sides showed flexibility which helped in peaceful resolution of the matter.

Sunni Tehreek chief Sarwat Ijaz Qadri said that the government had conceded to the major demand? of imposition of Nizam-e-Mustafa (PBUH). “The government has agreed to approach the Ministry of Religious Affairs for exclusion of all clauses in the law that are against Shariah,” he said. Both sides will increase engagement in future to ?ensure implementation of the agreement in letter and spirit, he added.