LAHORE: Following successful negotiations with the government on Saturday, the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) agreed to call off a protest in Lahore against the killing of the chief of its Punjab chapter.

“The protest would soon be called off,” ASWJ central spokesman Aurangzeb Farooqi told reporters.

Maulana Shamsur Rehman Muavia, the ASWJ Punjab president, was gunned down in Lahore on Friday in what appeared to be the latest in a series of sectarian killings.

The party had earlier refused to offer funeral prayers for the assassinated leader without the presence of a federal government representative to hear their demands and concerns.

ASWJ workers had put the body of the slain leader outside Masjid-i-Shuhda on Mall Road demanding of the provincial government to bring the killers to task without delay.

Sources said the protest was called off after an ASWJ delegation met with the Lahore police chief and received an assurance from him that the culprits would soon be brought to justice.

According to DawnNews, the slain leader’s funeral prayers were finally offered by cleric Khalifa Abdul Qayyum later in the evening.