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Hundreds of supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party have been blocked the road to Islamabad for nearly 10 days, demanding that the minister of law be sacked for what they term blasphemy. Pakistan's government issued a final warning to members of a hard-line Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labaik who have blocked a main road into the capital since last week, raising fears of a violent clash as they refuse to budge. Islamabad deputy commissioner said in the order that "you all are being given a last warning." A court had already ordered the party to end the protest. (AP Photo)
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Tehreek-e-Labaik blames the minister, Zahid Hamid, for changes to an electoral oath that it says amounts to blasphemy. The government puts the issue down to a clerical error. (AP Photo)
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Pakistan's blasphemy law has become a lightning rod for Islamists, especially since 2011 when the liberal governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was murdered by a bodyguard for questioning the law that mandates the death penalty for insulting Islam or the Prophet Mohammad. (AP Photo)
A spokesman for the Labaik party, Ejaz Ashrafi, refused to comply with the order. (AP Photo) -
A government official, Khalid Abbasi, said the protesters had set up pickets along the route they are occupying manned by party members carrying iron rods and sticks. (AP Photo)
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Since they got the warning, he said, hundreds of more party workers have joined the sit-in. In this photo a masked supporter of Pakistani radical religious party walks close to the site of sit-in protest at an intersection of Islamabad. (AP Photo)
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Fearing violence, the government has blocked several roads with shipping containers to corral the protesters, but that has caused hours-long traffic jams in and around the capital. (AP Photo)
In 2007, a confrontation between authorities and supporters of radical preachers at an Islamabad mosque led to the death of more than 100 people. "All resources can be used to break this sit-in," the deputy commissioner's warning said. (AP Photo) -
Pakistani police have warned an Islamist rally to disband within hours to avoid a crackdown near the capital, where an estimated 5,000 members of a radical Islamic party have camped out and disrupted life. (AP Photo)
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Supporters of Pakistani religious radical party Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah offer Friday prayers with a poster of their leaders, during a sit-in protest in Islamabad. (AP Photo)
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