Pakistani army summoned to disperse Islamist sit-ins
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's government called in army troops on Saturday to restore order after police clashed with an Islamist group's supporters that have been camped out for the last twenty days at a key intersection near the capital Islamabad, state TV reported. The protest has triggered demonstrators to take to the streets of other cities across the country in solidarity, bringing them to a virtual standstill.
State TV reported that the Interior Ministry said on Saturday that army troops had been summoned to assist the city's civil administration in clearing the Faizabad intersection. It did not specify when the army would be deployed. No army presence was yet visible in the area.
Six people were killed and 200, mostly police, were injured as police tried to clear the intersection linking the Pakistani capital with the garrison city of Rawalpindi, doctors at local hospitals said. The demonstrators are demanding the resignation of a law minister over an omitted reference to the Prophet Muhammad in a parliamentary bill.
