Pakistani protesters celebrated their victory over the government yesterday after the country's law minister resigned. After Zahid Hamid's resignation, the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party, which was behind the sit-in in Islamabad and protests in other cities and towns across Pakistan, said they were dispersing peacefully under an agreement with the government. The protesters had demanded Hamid's resignation over an omitted reference to Islam's Prophet Muhammad in a parliamentary bill. He apologized for the omission in the bill, saying it was a clerical error that was later corrected. But protesters persisted, taking to the streets and setting up their sit-in at the Faizabad intersection on the edge of the Pakistani capital. They effectively blocked the country's key highway, the Grand Trunk Road motorway, linking Islamabad with the eastern Punjab province and the northwest, disrupting life and forcing commuters to look for alternate routes. Clashes erupted on Saturday when riot police tried to disperse the Islamabad sit-in and descended on the protesters with tear gas and batons, leaving six dead and dozens injured.

The violent crackdown also triggered solidarity protests in other Pakistani cities and towns, leading to what could have been a major political crisis that could have paralyzed many urban areas.

Hamid, the law minister, submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi late on Sunday after security forces held back from another attempt to disperse the protesters, three security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media. Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal told the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, Shaukat Sadiqui, yesterday that the government signed an agreement with the rally organizers to avoid a "civil-war like situation."