LAHORE: After reaching a secret deal with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to clear roads and end its sit-in at Wazirabad, the Punjab government on Tuesday released more than 1,000 workers and supporters of the group who were detained under maintenance of public order (MPO) ordinance.
Reliable sources told Business Recorder that roughly over 1,000 TLP men incarcerated in different jails and police lockups have so far been released in Punjab while the process to release others, except detained under section-7 of the anti-terrorism act, was still underway.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, who is leading the government’s negotiating team, while updating about the federal government’s steering committee measures said in a tweet that the implementation of the government-TLP agreement was in process at a fast pace. He said the TLP workers in “government custody” were being released.
It may be mentioned that the government started releasing the TLP supporters a day after Ali Muhammad Khan held two back-to-back steering committee meetings in Lahore to review measures how the government could go ahead and implement the secret agreement.
However, there were reports that Prime Minister Imran Khan while chairing the PTI’s core committee meeting in Islamabad on Monday allegedly expressed his desire to keep the TLP chief Saad Rizvi behind bars and also barred the ministers from commenting on the government-TLP agreement.
When contacted, Punjab Inspector General for Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig told Business Recorder that a total of 836 supporters of the banned TLP had been released from jails till evening. “As the release process in underway and I am frequently receiving (updated) figures, I cannot tell an exact figure at this moment. But so far 836 TLP supporters have been released from jails,” he said. To a question, the IG said some TLP men were referred to jails while some were at police stations and compilation of data would take time. When asked about the expected release of incarcerated TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi, IG Prison said he had no information about it; as neither any government officer nor any minister informed him about the government’s decision in this regard. “I was not part of the government-TLP talks.”
The TLP had launched the latest round of protests in Lahore on Oct 20, primarily to exert pressure on the Punjab government for the release of its chief Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi, the son of its late founder Khadim Rizvi. The younger Rizvi has been kept in detention by the Punjab government since April 12 for “maintenance of public order”.
However, TLP leader Pir Ajmal Qadri had said the purpose of the protest was “respect for the Holy Prophet (PBUH)” while also demanding Rizvi’s release.
After three days of clashes with the police in Lahore, the TLP started a long march to Islamabad on Oct 22. Five police officials were martyred and scores of others from both sides received injuries in clashes in Lahore and Gujranwala as the marchers moved on the Grand Trunk Road.
The TLP leadership on Oct 30 asked the protesters to wait at Wazirabad for further instructions when the government and the group started negotiations.
Meanwhile, Punjab police spokesperson Nayab Haider said the police in Wazirabad on Tuesday found the tortured body of a policeman from fields.
On Sunday, Mufti Munibur Rehman, who facilitated the talks along with some other religious leaders, had said at a presser that they have reached an agreement with the TLP, contents of which will be disclosed at an “appropriate time”. He, however, said its “positive results” would be visible to the nation next week or during the next 10 days. He then used an English proverb “action speaks louder than words” to justify the move to keep details of the deal secret.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021