ISLAMABAD: A radical Pakistani cleric, who galvanized tens of thousands of followers to march on Islamabad, will meet with opposition politicians Monday to consider his next move after a deadline he imposed for the prime minister to resign passed without Imran Khan stepping down.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s followers, many of them students of his religious schools, started out last week from the southern port city of Karachi, marching to Islamabad where they have since camped out on the city’s outskirts for three days.
Rehman accuses Khan of bad governance and demands the government follow radical Islamic laws. Khan has ignored the protesters’ demands.
Rehman’s radical religious schools have provided men for both the Afghan Taliban militant group and the anti-government Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Bilal Bhutto-Zardari, the co-leader of the left-leaning Pakistan People’s party, once led by the late Benazir Bhutto, has said his party will not join Rehman in the sit-in. While his party supports Rehman’s call for Khan to resign, it is not ready to take part in the sit-in, he said without elaborating.
Rehman has come under attack by human rights activists who have criticized his fiery speeches as well as his refusal to allow women at his protest march. Even women journalists were barred from the rallies until an outcry forced him to relent.
HIGHLIGHT
Maulana Fazlur Rehman has come under attack by human rights activists who have criticized his fiery speeches as well as his refusal to allow women at his protest march.
In his speeches, Rehman has attacked the minority Ahmadi sect.
Rahman has also staunchly defended a controversial blasphemy law that carried a death sentence for anyone found guilty of insulting Islam.
Khan has said he won’t be driven from power but has allowed Rahman’s rally to go on, provided it remain in a designated area on Islamabad’s outskirts.
Authorities stepped up security and brought in large containers to protect the Pakistani capital’s so-called Red Zone, which houses the Parliament, government offices and most foreign embassies.
