Pak’s group lifts partial siege to Islamabad after talks with govt

Islamabad, Nov 17: Hundreds of activists of an extremist religious group in Pakistan have ended their protest following their talks with the government, two days after they laid a partial siege to the national capital to denounce the publication of blasphemous cartoons in a French magazine and force the government to expel the French ambassador, official said on Tuesday.
Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) of firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi started the protest march on the Murree Road of the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Sunday.
Riot police had to resort to teargas shelling on Monday against the stone-pelting TLP protesters who succeeded to reach the Faizabad interchange connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad, where they launched their sit-in.
Though Rizvi did not join them at the sit-in, his representatives were leading the protestors who refused to move away until the basic demand to send back the French envoy was fulfilled.
Officials said that Prime Minister Imran Khan tasked Minister for Religious Affairs Noor ul Haq Qadri to hold talks with the protestors.
The minister, accompanied by Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, succeeded to convince the marchers to lift the siege. District Commissioner of Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat announced around midnight that all roads were opened. (PTI)