Pakistan protesters dig in despite govt warning

ISLAMABAD — Protesters gathered in the Pakistani capital said on Wednesday they would not end their days-long sit-in and were “willing to die,” as armed security forces readied to clear the camp. The stand-off, which comes as Pakistan mourns more than 70 people killed in a Taliban suicide bombing targeting Christians celebrating Easter Sunday in Lahore, underscores deep religious divisions fueling the country’s long battle with extremism. Several thousand protesters marched on Islamabad on Sunday, clashing with security forces before setting up camp outside key government buildings along the capital’s main Constitution Avenue. The protesters — who numbered some 25,000 at their peak — had gathered in support of Mumtaz Qadri, who was hanged in late February five years after he assassinated a liberal Punjab governor over his calls to reform the country’s blasphemy laws. The government gave the demonstrators an ultimatum to leave late Tuesday, but it went unheeded, prompting the government to issue a second call saying security forces would begin an operation to clear the area Wednesday morning. “If the protesters do not disperse peacefully tonight, then we will evict them in the morning in front of everyone,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters late Tuesday. Protesters were calm on Wednesday morning as leaders said they were holding talks with authorities. “We won’t move from this place until and unless all 10 demands are accepted,” said protest leader Ashraf Asif Jalali. “Our workers are willing to die. If the government takes action they will not run away but face the bullets. They are not armed with guns but with clubs.” — AFP