LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party won’t proceed with its proposed long march on Islamabad as a late-night dialogue between a government team and the leadership of the proscribed group bore fruit, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced Sunday.
Workers and supporters of the hardline religious group would “continue their sit-in until Monday or Tuesday” but won’t head towards the capital, he confirmed to a local publication.
Blocking roads and firing projectiles, TLP began its protest on the eve of Eid Milad un-Nabi on Tuesday, demanding the release of its detained leader Saad Hussain Rizvi.
Rizvi was arrested in April amid demonstrations against France over the publication of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.).
Subsequently, on Friday, violent clashes erupted between security forces and its supporters in Lahore, killing at least two policemen and two demonstrators, according to a police tally. The violence came at a time when Prime Minister Imran Khan was visiting Lahore.
The following evening, thousands of supporters of the party departed Lahore, clashing for a second straight day with police who lobbed tear gas into the crowd.
The minister said that detained workers of the party, along with those placed on the Fourth Schedule, would be released. He said under an agreement signed with the TLP in April, the demand of the expulsion of the French ambassador will be taken to Parliament for debate.
Ahmed and Minister for Religious Affairs Noor ul-Haq Qadri represented the government during the meeting held at the headquarters of Punjab Safe Cities Authority in Lahore.
Federal and Punjab ministers Ali Amin Gandapur, Basharat Raja and Chaudhry Zaheer ud-Din, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Punjab police chief Rao Sardar Ali Khan, Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Zafar Nasrullah Khan and Lahore Commissioner Umar Sher Chatha participated attended the meeting.
Inspector-General of Police Khan briefed the meeting as to the strategy of the law enforcement agencies to handle the protestors.
Ahmed further said a delegation from the proscribed group will arrive at the Ministry of Interior on Monday for talks. “We will resolve their issues in a day or two,” he said.
Ahmed was in Dubai to watch Pakistan open their T20 World Cup campaign against archrivals India tonight but had to return home on Saturday after Prime Minister Khan directed him to monitor the security situation.
The minister will hold a news conference later today to divulge details of the talks with the group.
The TLP has a history of staging protests and sit-ins to press their demands. The party gained prominence in the 2018 general elections, campaigning on a single issue: defending the blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.
It also has a history of staging violent protests to pressure the government to accept its demands.
