ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said he was grateful to Tahirul Qadri, chief of the Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ), for his cooperation with the government and added that the nation had stood united in the face of conspiracies against the country, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives in Islamabad, the minister said the performance of the government delegation was commendable and added that the president and the prime minister had played a positive role in the situation.

Malik said the nation had remained united in the face of conspiracies of all kinds and that the opposition leaders had also stood up to safeguard the democratic system.

He said in order to do his job to provide security to the participants of the long march and the subsequent sit-in in Islamabad, he had to deploy 11,000 security personnel from outside the federal capital.

Malik said security agencies had done an impressive job to minimise disturbances during the sit-in. He added that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had also played a commendable role during the event.

On threats to the long march and the sit-in, Malik said the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had threatened to launch an attack during the event.

The minister said he sympathised with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) over the killing of Manzar Imam, an MPA of the party who was shot dead on Thursday in Karachi.