Pakistani Lawmakers Meet With Protestors Pushing To Force Pm Sharif From Office

Islamabad (AFP) – Pakistani ministers and opposition politicians met anti-government protesters on Wednesday, but talks ended for the day with the sides appearing no closer to resolving a week-long political crisis that has rattled the restive, nuclear-armed nation. Thousands of followers of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and populist cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri have been demonstrating outside the parliament building in Islamabad, trying to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office. Khan and Qadri say last year’s general election that swept Sharif to power by a landslide was rigged and are demanding his resignation. Late Wednesday Khan’s team met with government negotiators in Islamabad to discuss his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s demands. “We put our demands before the government team and they promised to get back to us on Thursday after examining them,” PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters after talks. Khan had earlier struck a defiant note, insisting Sharif must resign before he would participate in negotiations. Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, a member of the government team and governor of Punjab province said the talks were cordial. “Whatever decision the two committees take will be in the best interest of Pakistan,” he said. Earlier Wednesday evening, a cross-party delegation met members of Qadri’s team to try to resolve the standoff, but the session finished with no concrete result. Talks were dominated by the issue of the alleged murder by police of at least 10 of Qadri’s Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) movement’s workers in Lahore in June, Rahiq Abbasi, a member of the cleric’s committee, told reporters afterwards. “We called for the immediate registration of a case and the arrest of all accused,” Abbasi said, reiterating his call for Prime Minister Sharif’s government to stand down.