Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday that Faizabad sit-in protesters belonging to different religious parties sowed the seeds of hatred in society, and the results of politics of religion and faith have to be endured by the entire nation in the future.
The minister said this while giving an interview to a private news channel. The minister said that the hatred that the protesters have created at political and religious levels would have its implications in the near future.
Iqbal also asserted that no fresh agreement was signed with protesters in Lahore, while the agreement signed in Islamabad with the protesting bodies was being continued.
Iqbal said that there were credible reports regarding the protesters planning to attack the capital city, adding that a religious war would have taken roots in the country if the situation had not been diffused tactfully. He also said that there were reports of workers of the religious groups were attacking the houses of citizens in Islamabad.
He requested the clerics in Pakistan to learn from the mistakes of the past and also from innumerable examples from around the world.
The minister said that it was not acceptable that ministers had to take oaths before clerics before taking any step.
Pakistan had to bear the brunt, both financial and political, during the 15-day sit-at Faizabad Interchange that brought the federal capital to a standstill, Ahsan said. Now the government had to tackle these losses both at internal and external levels, he added.