Pak protests ease as rivals seek negotiated settlement

ISLAMABAD, Sept 3 (agencies):  Rival Pakistani politicians Wednesday explored the possibility of a negotiated solution to weeks of protests aimed at the removal of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that eased after turning violent at the weekend.

Thousands had tried to storm Sharif's house in protests led by former cricket star Imran Khan and firebrand cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, destabilising the coup-prone nation.

But by Wednesday, only a few hundred people were camped out outside parliament in the high-security Red Zone area in the centre of the capital Islamabad, with the army protecting key government installations.

Sharif has refused to step down, while protest leaders have rejected his calls to come to the negotiating table, creating a dangerous deadlock and prompting fears the military might seize power.

But in the latest twist, Khan and Qadri agreed to talk to a committee of opposition politicians seeking to mediate between the government and the protesters and help find a political solution.

"The entire nation is disturbed by the ongoing crisis," Siraj-ul-Haq, a conservative Islamist politician leading the mediation effort, said. "(Khan's party) has accepted our request (to hold talks) with an open heart and we are thankful to them."

The crisis has taken many turns since protests broke out in mid-August, subsiding at times and erupting in violence again, with most commentators saying it was too early to say whether a negotiated solution was in sight.

Violent scenes in the usually quiet capital have alarmed many people in a nation where power has often changed hands though military coups rather than elections, with some officials accusing the military of orchestrating the protests as a way of sidelining or even toppling Sharif - a charge it denies.

Thousands of their followers have set up camp in Islamabad's sensitive "Red Zone" government district since August 15, but their calls to overthrow the administration have not mobilised mass support in the country of 180 million.

Some of the pressure Sharif eased Tuesday after opposition parties in parliament backed him to continue, and after a senior member of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party said his leader had acted on the army's direction-damaging the movement's credibility.

Parliament called a second special session on Wednesday which PTI members attended.

Senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party was willing to resume talks with the government in the presence of a cross-party team.

The cross-party team was also set to meet Qadri's Pakistan Awami Tehreek movement, a spokesman for the cleric said.

Siraj-ul-Haq, chief of the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party who is leading the talks confirmed the move to AFP.

Khan's party wants Sharif to step down for at least 30 days so that an impartial probe can be conducted into last year's election.

A source close to the talks told AFP: "All other matters have been resolved but the main issue is still on table, which is Nawaz Sharif's resignation.