ISLAMABAD -  The administrations of the twin cities are no more in the loop as the issue of the sit-in being staged by the workers of the Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah is being dealt with at the level of selected senior ruling party leaders and representatives of the protesters. The government formed committee led by Pir Haseenud Din is playing the role of a mediator.

This situation has left the law-enforcement agencies personnel baffled as to how to deal with the protesters.

“The protesters are getting frustrated because of the arrests that are made when participants go out [of the venue]”, said a senior official at the Islamabad district administration, when asked about any development in negotiations.

The official told The Nation that the administration, at the moment, had no idea about how to deal with the protesters on ground. The [political] leadership is in negotiations at high level … the issue has gone beyond the capacity of the administration, the official further said.

He was of the view that the administration was no more being updated on any developments.

On Wednesday, some of the protesters pelted police with stones at I-8/4 side and few police officials got injured, stirring uneasiness at the venue.

The injured include Khalid and Fayyaz Shah from Tarnol Police Station, Iqbal Shah from Safe City project, Talat Ijaz from the CTF HQs, Afaq and Abdullah from the FC.

The injured were shifted to the PIMS for medical treatment.

Similar situation happened on the Faizabad side at Sohan stop on the Expressway.  The law-enforcement agencies personnel and the police are confronting each other at the venue and there looms a fear of clash between the two sides.

Talks held for the last many days have so far failed with no breakthrough in sight as both the government and the protesters continue to stick to their earlier positions.

Resignation of the Federal Minister for Law, Zahid Hamid, is the major demand of the protesters.

The government, few days ago, had formed a committee under senior cleric Pir Haseenud Din for negotiations with the protesters and to suggest a solution to the problem.

The committee came into action instantly to find a satisfactory way out of the problem and urged the government to avoid use of force and operation against the protesters.

It also demanded that recommendations of the probe committee, mandated to fix responsibility for the controversy, headed by Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, should be made public and action should be taken against those responsible.

The sources on Wednesday told this correspondent that the committee headed by Pir Haseenud Din had recommended to the government that the law minister should be stopped from work until report of the committee headed by PML-N senior leader Raja Zafarul Haq submitted its report.

“This could be a way out of the crisis as the demand of the committee is very similar to the one made by the protesters, yet though it did not seek immediate resignation of the law minister,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Interior, which was closely monitoring the situation.

However, he said that the government was yet to respond to the proposal made by the committee.

On Monday, the committee, after its meeting had issued a joint statement, which said that there was absolutely no room for error in Khatm-e-Nabuwwat clause and a committee, formed with PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq in the chair, would identify those responsible for the mistake and the change in the oath.

The government has repeatedly said that all options are available for dispersing the Islamabad protest, adding that security operation is the last option as the government will try to avoid bloodshed.

On the other hand, according to the passersby, the police have made their life even more difficult by blocking the slip-ins through the containers.

“Now they are forced to walk from Sohan up to I-8 signal,” said a passerby.

Daily life in the twin cities has been paralysed for over two weeks now due to the protest by the TLYR activists.

Traders and business community have also raised their voice against the sit-in, which they said has ruined their business.

The protesters have been occupying the Faizabad Interchange, which connects Rawalpindi and Islamabad through the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road – the busiest roads in the twin cities.