Pakistan Democratic Movement to decide on SC sit-in venue today

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has apparently failed to convince Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to change the venue of the sit-in and announced that a new place of protest gathering would be decided by Monday morning, reported Geo News.

This comes after Shehbaz Sharif Government failed to convince PDM chief Maulana Fazl to change the sit-in venue despite two rounds of meetings.

The ruling PDM had announced staging a protest sit-in outside the Supreme Court against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial for the judiciary's "undue facilitation" to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, reported Geo News. Earlier on Sunday, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government requested the PDM chief to change the venue of the protest sit-in from outside the Supreme Court to D-Chowk in Islamabad amid security concerns.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah voiced concerns over the PDM's protest demonstration scheduled outside the Supreme Court on Monday (today), saying "angry protesters in large numbers are intending to attend the sit-in".

Sanaullah said an intelligence report indicated that staging the protest in the red zone or Constitutional Avenue area of the federal capital could create a tense situation, reported Geo News.

"We fear that if this protest takes place in the red zone area [then] it will be difficult for the administration to handle the situation," he remarked.

The ruling alliance of 13 political parties had announced a sit-in outside the Supreme Court on Monday (tomorrow) to protest the judiciary's "undue facilitation" of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

The protest sit-in coincides with the hearing of the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) plea asking the apex court to revisit its order to hold elections in the Punjab Assembly on May 14.