Pakistan government opens dialogue front with Qadri on fourth day of protest

ISLAMABAD: As the Pakistan government made moves to hold talks with Tahir-ul-Qadri today, the agitating cleric told his supporters he was giving "democracy a final chance" and asked them not to leave the protest site until a written agreement was hammered out.

Qadri extended a deadline he had set for the Pakistan government to act on his demands to quit and dissolve the national and provincial assemblies after being contacted by emissaries for a dialogue.

Qadri had earlier given the government a 90-minute deadline to act on his demands by 3 pm.

He later addressed his supporters camping on Jinnah Avenue and said he had now given the government time till 3.45 pm.

The cleric said the government had contacted him about holding talks and sought more time so that a delegation could meet him at the site of his protest near parliament.

He said a delegation of all parties in the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party was coming to meet him and discuss his demands.

Qadri urged his supporters not to leave till the talks were completed and a written agreement was hammered out.

The Pakistan government has formed a four-member committee to hold talks with Qadri. The panel includes Religious Affairs Minister Khurshid Shah, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain' senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar and Awami National Party leader Afrasiyab Khattak.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the committee to "immediately hold talks" with Qadri.

Qadri said he had set only one condition for talks - that Interior Minister Rehman Malik should not be part of the government delegation.

"We will leave only after victory," he said from inside his bulletproof container.

Qadri has given no indication of what he intended to do if the government fails to act on his demands. "There will be no protest or sit-in tomorrow. We have to finish it by the end of this day. I am giving talks, peace and democracy a final chance," he had said earlier in the day.