ISLAMABAD: Inside a besieged National Assembly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif heard on Wednesday assurances of support from both allies and some political foes but left in apparent hurry without speaking about protests by crowds assembled outside demanding that he resign.

Tens of thousands of the followers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) had already laid siege to the parliament house overnight and lawmakers found themselves shut out from the main entrance as did journalists from their entry gate because of protesters blocking them the way.

But the entry of the assembly members and others into the building was allowed through an army-manned gate of the adjoining Cabinet Division north of the parliament house, which too was blocked by the protesters later in the day in a move that apparently forced an early adjournment of the house without an expected speech by the prime minister.

There was some panic in the house and in the galleries as reports came of PAT leader Allama Tahirul Qadri telling his followers outside that assembly members had been allowed to get into house “so the ‘shikar’ (prey) assembles at one place” and asking them to close the entrance from the Cabinet Division and not to allow anybody to enter or leave the parliament house.

A special mike, linked to special red cable apparently for a recording for use by the state media, was placed at the prime minister’s desk even before he entered the house amid cheers from the treasury benches, sparking speculations he would speak about the protesters’ march on parliament and how he planned to break the deadlock after both Allama Qadri and Imran Khan had refused to meet government-mandated mediators on Monday and Tuesday.

The early adjournment, announced by Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi possibly on government advice, enabled the prime minister, other house members, journalists and other visitors to drive out, without any problems, through yet another, but less visible, gate leading to the presidency in the east specially opened for them.

It was the second time in three days that Mr Sharif came to the house but did not speak in an inclusive debate on the situation arising from a week of protest marches from Lahore and sit-ins and this time some prominent allies like Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman urged the prime minister never to entertain the protesters’ demand for his resignation.

“Never at all,” Mr Achakzai said about the demand for the prime minister’s resignation, but his own demand for the house to pass a resolution immediately to condemn the siege of parliament could not materialise before the house proceedings were wrapped up.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman promised that his party -- which has two seats in the federal cabinet and could eye for a leading role in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government in the event of a success of a proposed no-confidence vote against PTI’s Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak -- would become a ‘sadd-i-sikandari’ (Alexander’s wall), or an impregnable wall, against what he saw as a threat to the democratic system and said: “There can be no resignation.”

“It will not happen, it will not happen,” came chants from the treasury benches.

“We stand by the prime minister,” the Maulana said, adding: “We will stand side by side”.

An unusually strong denunciation of the PTI and PAT ‘dharnas” also came from the ruling party’s traditional arch rival and the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), whose two members who spoke on the day -- Mir Ejaz Jakhrani and Shazia Marri – called for a negotiated settlement and for saving the democratic system, amid desk-thumping cheers from PML-N benches.

Mr Jakhrani said scenes of Tuesday’s march by the PTI and PAT on parliament, after five days of ‘dharna’ on two roads in Islamabad, had proved “there was a single director and producer” of the show.

Ms Marri said the right to freedom of speech should not be used to undermine parliament as she also had a dig at the ruling party by referring to the presence of ‘baqiyat’, or remnants, of former military dictator Ziaul Haq and comparing some harsh outbursts of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif -- without naming him -- against PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari during his presidency with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s challenge to the prime minister.

Abdul Rashid Godil, whose Muttahida Qaumi Movement has sought to take a middle road in the crisis, called for a further softening of the government’s attitude as he appreciated its permission for holding the sit-ins and said dialogue between the two sides should be held “within the limits of the Constitution and law”.

Jamaat-i-Islami member Sher Akbar Khan seemed quite harsh against the PTI decision for 34 of its members to resign from the National Assembly, said those not recognising the present assemblies must be asked to return crores of rupees received as salaries and perks.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014