The Interior Minister has given a clean chit to the TLP. He conceded that the government had done nothing positive in the last six months despite signing an agreement with the network. Sheikh Rasheed even denied that the government had ever banned the organisation maintaining that in fact it had only proscribed it, whatever that may mean. He ordered the release of more than 350 activists of the organization. Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri said the government would “seriously consider” the demands of the TLP. This raises the question why the government had used force against the protestors if their demands were genuine, and they were within their right to put them up as according to Qadri they were the third largest political party in the country. The use of force led allegedly to the killing of some of the protestors while injuring several others.
Or is the government not telling the truth? Did it know that the TLP’s demands like the expulsion of the French ambassador could lead to economic repercussions like the withdrawal of GSP Plus status, which offers benefits to Pakistan in terms of increase in exports particularly in the Textiles and Garments that brings home billions of dollars? With France as the upcoming President of EU any action like expelling its ambassador would be widely resented by Europe. So in April when the violent cadres of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) unleashed mayhem across the length and breadth of the country, the PTI decided to agree to its demands but did not bring the issue to Parliament hoping that with the passage of time it might be possible to make the party change its stance.
There is an affinity between the government and the TLP on the issue of blasphemy. The TLP was used by the establishment to destabilise the PML-N government while Sheikh Rashid lavished praises over the organisation during its Faizabad sit-in. This too stands in the way of action against the TLP like sentencing its members involved in killing, injuring and kidnapping of police personnel. With the government involved in peace talks it is bound to send the police a highly demoralising message, while taking wrong decisions under the pressure of militants would be seen by the world as the sign of a weak government.
