ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ijaz Shah on Thursday said the government would fully facilitate the protest March of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and would not create any hurdles in its way.

“On the instructions of the prime minister, the protestors from the four provinces have fully been facilitated. We provided them water, electricity and a traffic plan on their way to Islamabad so that they reach the federal capital without any untoward incident,” Ijaz Shah said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan.

He pointed out that Maulana Fazlur Rehman kicked off his march on October 27 and by Thursday they had reached the area of Gujjar Khan and Rawat.

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The interior minister said the protesters coming from Punjab and Sindh would enter Islamabad from Rawat T Chowk. They have been given the route of Faizabad and 9th avenue to reach their designated place of protest at H-9.  The container of Maulana Fazlur Rehman will be given a separate route so that he could comfortably reach the protest place.

Ijaz Shah assured to provide full security to the protestors. He said the protest place at H-9 had been cleared of all the shrubs and bushes, and water and electricity had been provided there. Places of latrine and hotels had also been marked there.

He said it was the first time in the country’s history that a sitting prime minister had given a go ahead to a protest march of any opposition party. He said those who wanted to fire from the shoulders of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and create anarchy in the country had failed in their designs because of the government’s decision of not stopping the protestors.

On this occasion, Firdous Ashiq Awan expressed hope that Maulana Fazlur Rehman would peacefully take forward his march. She said the government had given space to the protestors in conformity with the democratic traditions. She expressed the confidence that the commitments made by the organizers of the march would be upheld.