Pakistani Parliament to Meet as Protesters Clog Streets Outside
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Pakistani lawmakers are due to meet on Wednesday after an opposition leader and a firebrand cleric led thousands of protesters past riot police and barricades to parliament as part of a bid to force the prime minister to stand down.
The protests are led by former international cricket star turned opposition leader Imran Khan and cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, who runs a network of Islamic schools and charities.
Legislator Marvi Memon said lawmakers would discuss the political crisis in today's parliamentary session.
Exhausted protesters, some carrying blankets or colorful umbrellas, were resting on the grass on Constitution Avenue, the main street housing government buildings, on Wednesday after some used bolt cutters to force their way past barricades of barbed wire and shipping containers late on Tuesday.
Riot police did not intervene, Reuters reported.
They want Sharif to stand down over allegations of corruption and rigging last year's polls.
The protests have raised questions over the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan. The young democracy of 180 million people has a history of coups and the government is struggling to tackle high unemployment, daily power cuts and a Taliban insurgency.
"Now no police nor army will stop us," Khan told supporters on Tuesday. "Nawaz Sharif, resign by tomorrow 8 p.m., otherwise we will come to the prime minister's house."
The country's powerful military, which often acts as an arbiter when it is not ruling directly, has called for a political solution to the crisis.
