Pakistan crisis: Amid rampage, rumours Pakistan Supreme Court offers to step in
Protesters had stormed the secretariat and state-run Pakistan Television
By : shafqat ali
Update: 2014-09-02 01:07 GMT
Islamabad: The political crisis in Pakistan escalated dramatically on Monday as rumours swept the nation that Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif had asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down, and other speculation that he had called a Parliament session on Tuesday to seek support to dismiss the Army chief and some five or six senior generals.
Both the government and the military swiftly denied the reports, dismissing these claims as “baseless.” Opposition leaders vowed to stand by the PM in the struggle to defend democracy.
Earlier, hundreds of protesters had stormed the secretariat and the state-run Pakistan Television, and fresh clashes erupted with the police. The Army stepped in and asked the protesters to leave the PTV studios.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court offered to assist in ending the ongoing impasse between the protesters and the government. The judges asked PTI lawyer Ahmad Awais to inform the court whether they accept the court’s intervention.