ISLAMABAD - Misbah Noor, 19, a participant of Qadri-led sit-in, started frantically punching into the numbers of her cell phone and when call connected she shouted happily, “Congratulations, we succeed. We did it. Government has conceded to our demands.”
After exchanging greetings with recipient of her call, Noor rejoined crowd of thousands of people engulfed in wild jubilation, bouncing and dancing in joy, near D-Chowk.
It happened soon after an announcement from the main cabin that an agreement has been reached between the government and Tahirul Qadri after hectic five-hour long negotiations.
Five days long struggle led by Qadri finally bore fruit and he managed to get a respectable exit from a messy scenario haunting not only him but also the government and countrymen.
Shouts of “God is great” erupted from D-Chowk as Qadri congratulated his thousands of companions after telling them about successful negotiations with the government.
“I am feeling like a freeman. Don’t you feel so?” an overjoyed Ahmed, 32, said in his short comment when he was asked bout his response to the situation.
“Here is a our peaceful revolution. We achieved our goal in a matter of just five days,” Naseem Arjumand commented when she was asked if she was satisfied with the outcome of her struggle.
The crowd continued to swing back and forth, madly waving national flags and joyously responding to slogans until Qadri formally announced to call off protest kicked off on January 13 from Lahore.
Days of speculation finally ended in the capital amid cheers and thanksgiving prayers.
“Today, we have set a role model for activists of all political parties in particular and for the citizens of Pakistan in general,” Amina Ashraf, a volunteer of Minhajul Quran said while guarding the women side of the crowd.
At 2:00 on Thursday afternoon, thousands of protesters present at capital’s D-Chowk were presenting a sorry picture while trying to find out refuge from light rain that lashed the capital city at midday. At that time, might be they were unaware that relief, and reward, was soon to come.
Qadri’s final deadline of one-and-a-half-hour to government made the crowd charged and they started preparing to invade the Parliament. “Whatever Quaid will say, we will comply,” Akbar Hussain, 23, said while moving a stick above his head when he was asked about his plans.
But government’s announcement regarding formation of a committee to hold negotiations once again normalized the situation.
The government representatives were received at the venue among full throat slogans raised by the participants in favour of Qadri.
The members of the government’s committee entered the Qadri’s bulletproof container and negotiations started. During five-hour long negotiations, the protesters remained calm, patiently waiting for outcome of talks. Though, food was served by the administration of TMQ among the women participants of the crowd but they seemed uninterested in it.
Prolonged negotiations caused much gossip, while media men remained predicting about possible results of talks. And finally an overall positive result was announced.
As they had claimed before media that rain or anything else would not deter their resolve, the participants proved on Thursday that they were very much true while making that claim. During one-hour light rain, not even a single participant showed his resentment or worry over the situation.
“Rain is not an issue. We are here for a cause that is much bigger than rain,” Talha Mehmood, 42, shrugged when he was asked if he was worried after the rain lashed.
Lets drag this point out of conversation that if participants were right in their demands or not. But their dedication and enthusiasm for their own selected agenda was above all questions.
Inhumane living conditions, absence of toilets and other allied facilities did not shatter the resolve of shelter less and food less participants of the gathering during the whole episode.
Their dedication that was apparent from their talks and reflecting from their faces continue to increase after every passing day until the saga ended peacefully.
Thousands of activists of Minhajul Quran from all across the country landed in the capital on January 14 (Monday). They spent four days peacefully while occupying Jinnah Avenue near D-Chowk.