LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Monday said that protests in the federal capital can continue for a 100 days, but democracy must not be derailed in Pakistan.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Sirajul Haq said there was only one way to find a solution to the political crisis and that was through dialogue.

“I appreciate the efforts of the three dialogue teams to resolve this issue, even though it has not been fruitful, I am optimistic,” said the JI chief.

“We do not wish to pour oil on the fire and to further aggravate the situation,” he said.

“I wish to help the nation come out of this difficult period,” Haq said.

Altaf asks government to restart talks process

Meanwhile, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain on Monday said that the government should again start negotiations with protesting parties Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

The MQM leader in a statement said that the government should re-initiate the dialogue process on the basis of ‘give and take’. Both Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri have announced an end to negotiations with the government, following a crackdown that saw nearly 300 activists from the PAT, PTI allied parties picked up from across the capital on Friday.

Altaf said that the government and protesting parties should refrain from making controversial statements against the army and intelligence agencies. He added that the politics of the two protesting parties reflected peoples’ state of mind.

The demonstrations currently underway in Islamabad have entered their second month, with both party leaders Qadri and Imran adamant on continuing their movement to topple the government.

Efforts between government and protesting party negotiators have made little headway as the sticking point remains to be the prime minister's resignation — a demand the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Imran say is non-negotiable.

The planned demonstrations have unnerved Nawaz Sharif's fledgling civilian government. Dr Qadri's demand that members of the Punjab government — specifically Nawaz's brother and chief minister of the province, Shahbaz Sharif — be tried and removed for June's police crackdown in Lahore's Model Town is also lending strength to the anti-government movement.

The MQM considers itself a "natural ally" of Dr Qadri's PAT, and had nominated MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi as part of a committee that acted as mediator between the government and PAT as all sides desperately push to end the political crisis.

In a bid to ramp up pressure on the government, Qadri announced on Sunday that his supporters would go on hunger strike, while the PTI chief declaring a revolt against the ruling party.