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Pakistan protest: Qadri supporters end Islamabad sit-in | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Supporters of a leading cleric in Pakistan are ending a two-month sit-in in the capital, Islamabad, to demand PM Nawaz Sharif's resignation. | |
Tahirul Qadri said his party was taking the protest to other cities instead. | |
He launched his campaign in August, saying he wanted revolutionary change in how Pakistan was run. | |
Another opposition leader, ex-cricketer Imran Khan, said his supporters would keep protesting in Islamabad until Mr Sharif resigned. | |
Mr Qadri has provided the bulk of the crowds in Islamabad but numbers have been thinning since September. | |
Imran Khan has already expanded his protest by holding huge anti-government rallies in Karachi and other major cities of Punjab province. | |
Struggling to sustain his sit-in, it seems Mr Qadri had little choice but to follow suit, the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani reports. | |
There were emotional scenes at Mr Qadri's sit-in on Tuesday night after he asked his followers to pack up and leave the capital. | |
"I advise all supporters that they continue to work hard to spread the revolutionary movement around the country," he said, adding that they had achieved their aim. | |
Dejected by the announcement, many of his supporters were seen weeping and consoling each other. | |
They had arrived in Islamabad hoping to overthrow what their leader says is a flawed political system and bring about a revolution. | |
But in the end, they were being asked to go home without having achieved any of their objectives, our correspondent says. | |
Mr Qadri's aides insist he is not giving up the fight - just changing tactics. | |
One of his supporters, Naveed Ahmed from the UK, told the BBC: "If I say that we wanted a sudden result, in that way yes, it's a bit sad. But on the other hand the revolution is not like a one-day process - it takes time." | |
Fellow supporter Farhat Khan said she thought it had been for a good cause. | |
"Now that we are leaving I am a bit glum," she told the Associated Press news agency. "We've had good co-ordination among people who were here from different cities. We all came together to represent Pakistan as one nation." |