Azadi March: Protesters prepared to stay for more than 10 days in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Senior journalist Hamid Mir said on Friday that participants of the Azadi March will not leave within two to three days but would stay at the venue for a minimum of 10-15 days.

Speaking to Geo News, Mir said that he had spoken to the people who were participating in the Azadi March.

"These people are not here to stay two to three days," he said. "They are here to stay for a minimum 10-15 days," he added.

Mir said that he spoke to Fazl, who was wondering how he would send so many people home.

He said that within the next 24 hours, the marchers could proceed further than the H-9 venue where they were currently holding the jalsa.

"I spoke to Ghafoor Haideri and told him that you have an agreement with the government. Haideri told me that the government had itself violated the agreement by arresting our people."

Mir said that Maulana Fazl would address the rally after Asr prayers where he would most likely make an important announcement.

Mir clarified that he had climbed atop the stage to ensure that female journalists could be allowed to cover the Azadi March.

"I spoke to Maulana Fazl after I received a lot of complaints from female journalists that they were not being allowed to cover the jalsa," he said.

Mir said that Ghafoor Haideri then called on Mir to make the announcement from the stage that women journalists could cover the march and that they were allowed to report the event.

"I then made the announcement on the stage and thanked Fazl," he said. "I told them that there were already too many attempts to gag the press hence we didn't need more censorship."