Days after Pir Hameeduddin Sialvi of the Sial Sharif shrine called off a protest aimed at "bringing down the government", the PML-N lawmakers in Punjab Assembly — who had resigned in solidarity with the religious leader — withdrew their resignations on Monday.
Six PML-N lawmakers — two MNAs and four MPAs — had submitted their resignations last month on Sialvi's call as a protest against the non-removal of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah from his position.
The four MPAs ─ Maulana Rehmatullah, Khan Muhammad Baloch, Raza Nasrullah and Nizamuddin Sialvi, who is the nephew of Pir Hameeduddin Sialvi, a former senator — withdrew their resignations today.
Pir Sialvi had last week called off the agitation against Sanaullah following a visit by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during which the latter paid the caretaker of the Sial Sharif shrine traditional obeisance by bowing his head and touching his knees.
"Shahbaz Sharif has assured [us] that our concerns regarding the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat issue will be addressed," Nizamuddin Sialvi told DawnNews.
During his meeting with Sialvi, the chief minister had promised to organise and attend Seerat-un-Nabi and Khatm-i-Nabuwwat conferences, to be led by the pir, across the province.
Sharif also announced that a five-member committee had been constituted to deal with Sialvi's complaints against the Punjab law minister. The committee will suggest whether Sanaullah should offer Sialvi an apology for his earlier remarks and also visit the shrine of Sial Sharif and clarify his stance on this issue, he said at the time.
Earlier, at a Khatm-i-Nabuwwat conference in Lahore, Sialvi had set a deadline for the government seeking the enforcement of “Shariah” within seven days or risk protests "in every nook and corner of the country".
The conference had been attended by workers of the Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasul Allah (TLYR), the Sunni Ittehad Council, the Sunni Tehreek, and other allied groups.
The protest had originally started with the single demand for the resignation of Sanaullah who had been accused of passing ‘controversial’ remarks concerning the Ahmadi community.
