Pak protesters keen to end siege

• National identification cards of the protesters taken away
• We just want our cards back so that we can leave, say protesters
• Why the sit-ins, Pakistan court asked protesting parties

Islamabad: Arshad Shah, a Pakistani protester, feels trapped, worn out after weeks of street demonstrations against the government, he wants to go home but protest organisers will not let him.

Like many other protesters led by cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, Shah said organisers had taken away his national identification card to prevent him from leaving the protest site outside government offices in the centre of the Pakistani capital.

"Some (organisers) will make up excuses for why they can't return out cards yet, others will just say directly that we can't leave until the sit-in is over," said Shah who joined the rallies from the central Pakistani city of Sargodha. "I just want our cards back so we can leave." Others said they were instructed to turn in their cards on a daily basis, get paid to spend the day at the rally and claim the card back at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Pakistan's powerful army dismissed "rumours" that it was involved in the political chaos as the country grapples with the ongoing anti-government protests demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Three Pakistani navy personnel allegedly involved in the Taliban attack on Karachi's naval dockyard over the weekend have been arrested while they were attempting to flee to Afghanistan, officials said on Friday.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) asked Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) to submit written responses during the Sep 22 hearing of a petition against sit-ins in Islamabad. The petition was filed by citizen Mohammad Kamran, saying PTI and PAT leaders had violated the court’s orders by continuing their sit-ins and hence should be tried for contempt of court.