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Islamists End Protest Rally Outside Pakistani Parliament

Updated

A man holds a picture of Mumtaz Qadri as he chants slogans with others during a protest against Qadri's execution in front of the parliament building in Islamabad on March 29.
A man holds a picture of Mumtaz Qadri as he chants slogans with others during a protest against Qadri's execution in front of the parliament building in Islamabad on March 29.

Hundreds of radical Islamists, who had rallied outside the Pakistani parliament, ended their demonstration after authorities said police were readying to disperse the protesters.

Protest leaders said on March 30 that a deal was reached with the government and called on protesters to disperse.

However, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government had not acceded to any of the protesters' demands.

More than 10,000 Islamists from Pakistan's Sunni Tehreek group descended on Islamabad on March 27 to denounce last month's hanging of Mumtaz Qadri for the 2011 murder of secular Governor Salman Taseer, who had campaigned against Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws.

The protesters also demand the death of a jailed Christian woman whom Taseer had defended against blasphemy allegations, as well as the enforcement of Islamic Shari'a law in the country.

The government has said it will not fulfill their demands.

Based on reporting by AP

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