Skip to main content

Pakistan's Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri in Islamabad rally

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76978000/jpg/_76978919_76978918.jpg

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad after arriving in big convoys from Lahore.


Rally leaders Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif step down, alleging rigging in the 2013 elections.


Mr Qadri, an anti-government cleric, told his supporters in a midday speech to continue protesting until they bring a “peaceful revolution”.


Last year’s election saw the first civilian government transfer of power.


There was tight security in Islamabad as the protesters arrived in poor weather by truck, jeeps and cars after travelling the 350km (218 miles) from Lahore to Islamabad.


Cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri, who have separate groups of supporters, have vowed to together bring one million followers on to the streets of the city.


Mr Khan, who heads the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, said that the government was illegitimate, citing fraud and a failure to organise a probe into the elections.


Imran Khan leads protest march against the country"s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government in Islamabad on August 16, 2014Imran Khan was Pakistan’s most successful cricket captain before he entered politics in 1996

Truck carrying Imran Khan's supporters, LahoreThe government has condemned the opposition, saying a rally would not remove the prime minister

 Supporters of Tahirul Qadri, a Pakistani-Canadian cleric, have a meal after they arrived to attend a protest march in Islamabad, Pakistan, 16 August 2014

The sit-in is expected to continue throughout the weekend, although numbers are fewer than expected

He called for new elections, vowing to continue a sit-in until Mr Sharif resigns.


Police estimated the crowd was 60,000 strong.


The BBC’s Shahzeb Jillani in Islamabad says that the numbers fall significantly short of the projected “million man march”, and that the real test of the crowd’s staying power is yet to come as Mr Khan’s stand-off is expected to drag on over the weekend.


His convoy of protesters was pelted with stones on the way, in the city of Gujranwala.


Officials from Mr Khan’s party said his vehicle was also shot at but he was not hurt.


A senior leader of Mr Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League party announced that the government was ready to investigate the allegations of fraud from last year’s elections, but said that Mr Sharif would not be removed through a rally.


The government says the protesters are trying to derail democracy. The prime minister’s spokesman Pervaiz Rashid condemned the “irresponsible behaviour and actions” of his opponents.


Mr Khan’s and cleric Tahirul Qadri’s supporters are angry about the sinking economy, growing militancy, and failure to deliver core services such as a steady electricity supply.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Plummets Near $11,000 in 2018-Low

Newsflash: Bitcoin Price Plummets Near $11,000  in 2018-Low Bitcoin price dropped to a 2018-low during Tuesday’s morning trading (GMT), losing over $2,300 (Bitfinex) in a 17% fall in just under 3 hours. Dampened by regulatory scrutiny in Korea, home to one of the world’s biggest crypto markets, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continued their descent today. After opening Tuesday’s trading near $13,500 on USD-based Bitfinex, bitcoin price settled at $13,200 at 07:00 (GMT) before a collapse that led the world’s first cryptocurrency drop to a low of $10,891 near 10:00 AM. At the time of publishing, bitcoin price is showing signs of a recovery in trading near $12,000. Coinciding with Korea’s regulatory squeeze, multiple reports today have also pointed to a senior Chinese central bank official proposing a wider ban on cryptocurrency trading that would extend to both domestic and offshore trading platforms. The call for a ban includes cryptocurrency services ...

It’s time to test your App-titude!

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/53b675ba8661b-1-300x180.jpg Telenor Pakistan’s youth-centric brand djuice, has announced the launch of Apportunity 2014 – a competition for Pakistani students and software developers to create mobile phone applications (apps). Djuice has been organising Apportunity for the past two years and in that short period of time, the competition has gained immense popularity amongst the youth across the country. This year, Apportunity is even bigger than before as djuice has partnered with Microsoft to help bring the competition to the Windows Phone platform besides the already popular Google Android and Apple iOS platforms. Microsoft is also supporting djuice to reach major university incubation centres in order to encourage quality app submissions. Moreover, with the support of Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA), for the first time, djuice is opening the competition to software houses, as well. Apportunity 2014 has also introduced coac...

The world’s 10 riskiest sovereigns

http://isthattrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/cda382d9-fef3-4c77-bdc3-136c0c8f91c8-300x146.jpg Bosnia-Herzegovina is the world’s riskiest sovereign, according to a new model developed to calculate default probabilities, ahead of other high-risk countries such as Belarus, Ukraine and Rwanda. The model, which uses data from Euromoney’s Country Risk Survey, shows Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the more alarming prospects with a default probability of 27.4% over 12 months. Surprisingly, the country still commands a stable B-rating from Moody’s and S&P, unlike other, similarly high-risk bonds mostly C-rated or on review for a downgrade. Still rebuilding after last year’s devastating flooding, the country’s high unemployment rate, corruption and continuing political uncertainty make it the most likely country to default on its debts.   Belarus, reliant on Russian philanthropy in the absence of other creditor support to bolster its dwindling reserves and avoid a balance-of-payments crisi...