Govt committee briefs Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto on protests

ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that a government delegation met with PPP leader Bilwal Bhutto Zardari and former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif about ongoing protest sit-in.

"Our committee that includes Pervez Khattak, Shireen Mazari, Shah Mahmood Qurehsi Amir Dogar and myself met the leadership of PPP and PML-N and briefed them about the protests being held by a faction of the society,” Chaudhry told media persons on Thursday.

He said that government would take the opposition into confidence about its negotiations with the demonstrators.

His remarks came after the government decided to negotiate with the protesters holding sit-ins across country against the acquittal of Asia Bibi.

A five-member committee comprising ministers Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Shyeryar Afridi, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri and Mehboob Sultan has been constituted.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will himself monitor the progress, the TV channel said. After reviewing the overall situation in the country, the report said, the premier decided to settle the issue amicably.

The protesters have blocked several key roads in Karachi and Lahore. Private schools in both cities were also shut, as well as in the capital.

The demonstrators were protesting against the court’s decision to free Asia Bibi, a mother of four, who had been living on death row since 2010, as the first woman sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan’s tough blasphemy laws.