[ARABNEWS] Pakistain's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
said he would not cave in to protests demanding his resignation, striking a defiant note in his first major speech since the crisis erupted two weeks ago.
Sharif told Parliament his government would not be thrown off course by the demonstrations led by Tahirul Qadri
...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him...
and Imran Khan
... aka
Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
-- who later called off talks with the government for a second time.
Sharif told politicians his Pakistain Moslem League-N (PML-N) government would stay the course. "We are not going to be diverted by these things," he said.
"The journey for the supremacy of constitution and law in Pakistain will continue with full determination and, God willing, there will not be any interruption in it."
An extensive new survey of public sentiment, released on Wednesday, reveals that the ongoing demonstrations are hardly reflective of the views of most Paks.
The annual Pew Research Center survey found that 64 percent of Paks have a favorable view of Sharif.