Pakistan’s law minister Zahid Hamid on Monday quit as the Government “surrendered” to hardline religious groups, who called off their violent protests in Islamabad that had left six people dead and hundreds injured.
An official of the Prime Minister House confirmed that the law minister last night sent his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who accepted it today.
Hamid’s resignation cleared the main hurdle in the lifting of siege of the capital by protesters who demanded his removal for changes in a law related to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat (finality of prohpethood) oath in the Elections Act 2017.
His resignation comes in the aftermath of deadly clashes between security forces and protesters during the weekend, that killed six people and injured hundreds. The sit-in had paralysed the national capital for three weeks.
Activists of Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY) and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST) religious groups started protests three weeks ago.
Official sources said an understanding was reached with protesters to call off the protest as their key demand had been accepted and the changes made in the law had already been taken back when parliament restored the original oath.
Following the agreement and the subsequent resignation of Hamid, TLY chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi ordered his followers all over the country to end the sit-ins and go home.
“We have decided to end the protest after assurance by the army chief and an agreement with government,” he said at Faizabad interchange, where he was camping with over 2,000 supporters for last three weeks.