Pakistan Islamists rally on after deadly clashes with police
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani security forces refrained Sunday from cracking down again on an Islamist sit-in, now in its third week, after violence the previous day killed six people and wounded scores. The Islamists protesters rallied near Islamabad in support of a religious party demanding the resignation of the country’s law minister over an omitted reference to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in a parliamentary bill, as solidarity protests spread across the country.
Encouraged by the countrywide protests in their support, a Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party leader called for a countrywide general strike on Monday against what he called “atrocities” committed by police on Saturday.
Over 3,000 protesters gathered Sunday at the Faizabad intersection, the sit-in’s epicenter, which links the capital Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Some, angry over the police’s show of force the previous day, torched a car, three motorcycles and a guard post erected near the rally site Sunday. No casualties were reported.
Pakistani riot police and paramilitary troops were deployed nearby — apparently in preparation for another crackdown after security forces failed to disperse the demonstrators on Saturday. As the day wore on, however, it became apparent they would refrain from any further action to clear the sit-in.