Police sources said their personnel sacrificed lives and were wounded while performing duties during violent protests by the TLP…reports Asian Lite News
The police in Pakistan’s Punjab province has resented the federal governments decision to once again go soft on the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) by announcing the release of hundreds of its workers and withdrawing cases against others, Dawn news reported.
Police sources said their personnel sacrificed lives and were wounded while performing duties during violent protests by the TLP, but each time the government reconciled with the group, disregarding how police have been attacked and injured with petrol bombs, clubs and bricks, their vehicles set on fire, weapons and other gear snatched.
This is besides the damage inflicted on public property, the report said.
The law enforcement agency was reacting to Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid’s statement that the government had released “350 TLP workers up to now and we are still waiting to open both sides of road of Muridke as per the decision with the TLP”.
The Minister had also promised to review the Fourth Schedule list containing names of the proscribed leaders and activists besides withdrawing all previous cases lodged against them.
A dejected deputy inspector general-rank officer blamed the ruling elite for pushing the police against the wall, and suggested: “The government would have to stand with either the law enforcers or the TLP. Its decision to release hundreds of TLP men under an immediate agreement has ignored the sacrifices policemen rendered and lives they lost during violent agitation of the organisation.”
Since Sunday, the police has registered 40 cases against top leaders, 5,000 Fourth Schedulers and hardcore activists of the TLP under terrorism and multiple other charges.
Hundreds of TLP workers took to the streets throughout the country to exert pressure on the government for the release of its chief, Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi….reports Asian Lite News
The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a proscribed hardline Islamist group, warned on Sunday that its workers will stage a sit-in in Muridke near the city of Lahore and then move to Islamabad by Tuesday evening.
“The government has gone back on its word thrice. This time we will sit and wait,” said a statement issued by the proscribed group’s leadership council on Sunday.
Hundreds of TLP workers took to the streets throughout the country to exert pressure on the government for the release of its chief, Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi.
“No one will go home until the entire TLP leadership, including chief Saad Hussain Rizvi, comes to the container and makes an announcement,” said the statement. “Even if a member of the council says go home without Saad Rizvi, you may shoot that leader too,” it added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said Sunday all the cases against the protestors of TLP will be dropped by Wednesday.
This announcement was made after an eight-hour-long meeting between the arrested Saad Rizvi and the Imran Khan government, ARY News reported.
Rasheed said the ban on TLP will also be reviewed in the days to come. The Pakistani publication also stated that a plan is being devised for the release of its chief Saad Rizvi’s release.
On Saturday, the Interior Minister returned to his country after he was called back by Imran Khan, to deal with the ongoing security situation in the country.
Pakistan Interior Minister was forced to return to Pakistan after TLP had announced that it will start a “long march” towards Islamabad on Friday against the detention of its chief Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi, Pakistani news channel Geo News reported.
Thousands of personnel of various Pakistani forces were deployed on Saturday to stop a possible march to Islamabad by the proscribed hardline Islamist group — Tehreek-i-Labbik Pakistan (TLP).
“The peaceful Namoos-i-Risalat march of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan towards Islamabad will start after Friday prayers” from the TLP’s Markaz (headquarters), the statement said, adding that the group also had a “plan B” in case its members were stopped from marching on the capital, Dawn newspaper reported.
The publication stated that the capital administration approached the Pakistan interior ministry to seek personnel of Rangers and the Frontier Constabulary (FC).
The report stated that security personnel were being deployed in and around Red Zone and the Faizabad Interchange. Moreover, a contingent of 200 police personnel each was deployed at the entry points in the city.
This decision was taken by the government after the first round of negotiations held in Lahore concluded without any result. (ANI)
Counterterror watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has slammed Pakistan for letting terror outfits continue to function under different names…reports Asian Lite News
Analysts believe that Pakistan’s inaction against proscribed terror outfits may lead Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to function under a new name, after it was banned on April 15.
Counterterror watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has criticized Pakistan’s inaction against proscribed terror outfits that continue to function under different names. Pakistan’s prosecution of designated terror groups has remained the primary stumbling block since the country’s return to the grey list in 2018, reported Zenger.
“Conditions are created where such elements flourish,” former Punjab chief minister and political scientist Hasan Askari Rizvi told Zenger News.
“In the past, many religious groups have resurfaced under new names. Let’s see what happens. To curtail such groups, you need a new policy. Law is an important factor, but until you change the mindset in the society and this inclination for making all issues religious issues, [support for radical Islamism] will continue,” Rizvi, who authored “Military, State, and Society in Pakistan”, said.
Protest of TLP Lahore, Pakistan(wikipedia)
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, in an article in Zenger said that some analysts believe that like other proscribed radical Islamist groups in Pakistan — most notably Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (now called Millat-e-Islamia) — the TLP could resurface under a new banner.
TLP emerged as an Islamist pressure group opposing the 2016 hanging of Mumtaz Qadri for murdering former Punjab governor Salman Taseer who had criticized Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Blasphemy is a legal offense in the country.
Following Qadri’s execution, the TLP and affiliated groups organized nationwide protests, often resorting to destruction of property and street intimidation, an approach it has persisted with.
In November 2017, the TLP held the capital hostage for weeks after amendments in the Electoral Reforms Bill, which had overlooked the mandatory anti-Ahmadi clause requiring the members of the constitutionally excommunicated community to declare themselves non-Muslims to participate in any election process.
Logo of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(wikipedia)
A month after the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government came to power in September 2018, the TLP launched protests against an anti-Islam cartoon competition organized by far-right Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.
In October 2018, the TLP protested against the Supreme Court releasing Christian woman Asia Bibi establishing that she was falsely accused of blasphemy against Islam. Last year, the TLP’s backlash prevented the release of the award-winning Pakistani film “Zindagi Tamasha” for portraying a naat-khawan (a reciter of poetry praising Prophet Muhammad) in a negative light, reported Zenger.
The TLP’s latest pushback comes after “Charlie Hebdo” decided to republish caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, coinciding with the trial of abettors of the 2015 jihadist attack on the publication.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s defense of free speech on religion after a schoolteacher, Samuel Paty, was decapitated by a radical Islamist for showing the French satirical publication’s cartoons in class also irked the group.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
Some interpret the rise of the TLP as being backed by the military establishment, specifically to target the conservative vote bank of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ahead of the 2018 elections.
Many also point out the duplicity of the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. It supported the TLP holding Islamabad hostage while in opposition in 2017, with the current interior minister Sheikh Rashid then lauding them as true ‘Aashiq-e-Rasool’.
TLP was seeking the expulsion of the French ambassador Marc Barety, escalated nationwide violence that resulted in the deaths of four police officers apart from infrastructure damage.
The recent violence was in response to the April 12 arrest of TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi for organizing a rally to push the government to implement an informal agreement on boycotting French goods and severing diplomatic ties.
The TLP made the government agree to its terms before calling off a protest. The meeting was held in November 2020 with then-Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, and Islamabad’s deputy commissioner Muhammed Hamza Shafqaat. (ANI)
Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, a hardline religious organisation, was declared as proscribed by the Imran Khan-led government after the former had detained security officials and unleashed mayhem in the country, reports Hamza Ameer
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a country formed on the basis of freedom of religious rights for its citizens, is a Muslim majority state, where religious groups and organisations play a pivotal role in the country’s democratic system and political setups.
It is common in Pakistan for political parties to seek allegiance from various conservative and hardline religious groups to attain political strength, which could lead them to the victory throne to rule the country.
Hardline religious groups, under the guise of political gains by many political parties, have been supported, facilitated and protected, giving them the leverage to practice and spread their narratives of the religion among the masses.
However, while many such religious groups have made headways and have challenged the country’s democracy in the past, the recent surge of popularity and intensity of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) has certainly raised serious questions over how the country’s democratic setup and government operate.
TLP, a hardline religious organisation, which was part of the political race during the last general elections, was declared as proscribed by the Imran Khan-led government after the former had detained security officials and unleashed mayhem in the country.
TLP’s popular identity is its aggressive reaction to any activity or action by any person or country that targets Islam and its Prophet Muhammad.
TLP’s prime agenda has been to protest against any blasphemous action or intent, which has seen support pouring in from all corners of the country.
TLP’s protests have seen violence, blockages, killings and vandalisation, chocking the whole country through its widespread massive support across the nation.
Imran Khan
TLP has certainly demonstrated that its public presence and violent reaction to issues related to religion has time and again brought the sitting government and the authorities to their knees.
This poses a serious threat to the country, which is now witnessing a backlash by such organisations, which were its own creations.
Islamist hardline groups in Pakistan have been able to spread their narrative openly and have been mainstreamed by the governments to the level that they have now become a threat to their own country’s security and its standing in front of the world.
TLP’s demand for expulsion of the French Ambassador from Pakistan and severing relations with France in protest against the ‘blasphemous’ caricatures of Islam and Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) has put the Imran Khan-led government in a difficult position as the premier has stated that the country cannot afford to sever ties with France or with Europe at large.
However, the government, succumbing to the pressure from the Islamist group, has tabled a resolution in the Parliament, seeking its vote on the expulsion of the French Ambassador.
Such Islamist hardliner elements have also enjoyed support from the country’s establishment, which has in the past supported them in their protests.
In 2017, TLP had staged a protest sit-in in Faizabad, the connecting bridge between the capital Islamabad and its twin city Rawalpindi, demanding the resignation of the then sitting law minister over his alleged role in proposing changes to the wording of the oath taken by the parliamentarians, as they deemed it to be blasphemous.
The demand back then was met as the law minister had to resign, even after repeated clarifications that he had never intended to commit any blasphemy.
What is shocking to see is that these Islamist hardliners have been able to dictate terms to the government, both in terms of foreign policy and parliamentary agenda.
This has now become a serious concern for the Imran Khan-led government, which has been trying to portray a positive image of Pakistan to the world.
