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 Pakistan has been gripped by mass protests for two weeks, with
thousands of demonstrators led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran
Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir ul-Qadri camped outside parliament
in a country prone to military coups.
In a bid to resolve the standoff, government representatives have
held sporadic talks with protest leaders, but the latest round of
negotiations ended inconclusively.
Qadri, who has a huge following and runs a network of Islamic
schools and hospitals, told his supporters to prepare for a decisive
day in their campaign.
"Thursday will be Revolution Day," he told a roaring crowd. "We will
not go forward from tomorrow as it will be the deciding day."
Khan has also promised an important statement for Thursday.
Both Qadri and Khan have made many dramatic statements about their
intentions since the start of the protests, most of which have not
materialized. Several ultimatums have passed without action and
Sharif has rejected their call for his resignation.
But the atmosphere in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, was nervous
on Thursday, with security visibly beefed up in the center of the
city.
Dozens of large blue police vans drafted in from all over Pakistan
patrolled the central thoroughfare to the protest site.
Pakistan has swung between democracy and military rule for decades
and the army's position is key to what happens next.
Although many expect the protests to fizzle out, there is still
scope for trouble if events take a more violent course.
The demonstrations come at a difficult time for Pakistan, already
plagued by an Islamist insurgency, sectarian tension and recurrent
power shortages, with many people deeply unhappy with the
government's performance in the past year.
But few expect the army to try to grab power again. So far it has
stayed out of the stand-off, providing security for Sharif and key
government installations and calling on all sides to show restraint
and solve the dispute through political means.
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Two weeks since they swept into the area outside parliament,
thousands of protesters seem determined to stay on despite the heat
and occasional monsoon downpours. The site is now littered with
garbage and a putrid smell of human waste hangs in the air.
In a show of defiance, some protesters have dug graves in the
capital's Constitution Avenue to show they are prepared to die for
their cause.
Khan, an outspoken former cricket hero and Oxford graduate, wants
Sharif to step down because he believes the prime minister rigged
last year's election. Sharif won the vote by a landslide, taking 190
of the 342 seats in the national assembly.
The ballot was the first democratic transfer of power in Pakistan's
history and also propelled Khan from a fringe player to the head of
the country's third-largest legislative bloc.
Qadri wants Sharif to step down because he says the system is
corrupt. He has promised free housing for the homeless, and welfare
and subsidized food and electricity for the poor.
(Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Writing by Maria
Golovnina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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