TLP announces long march on Islamabad, roads blocked in Lahore

The banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) announced on Thursday that it would undertake a long march on Islamabad to force the government to release the founder’s heir, Saad Rizvi.

The TLP has been staging a sit-in on Multan Road, Lahore for the last two days.

The party’s central council been demanding the government release Saad Hussain Rizvi, the chief of the defunct TLP. He was arrested earlier in the year for inciting violence.

A large number of party members is taking part in the sit-in. The party council members say that they have been protesting peacefully for 15 days but have not received much reaction. The government has repeatedly turned its back on the agreement, they said.

The TLP had given the government till Thursday evening to release Saad Rizvi or they said they would make an announcement of a plan of action.

A stage was set in front of the TLP headquarters at Multan Road in Lahore where 200 to 250 members turned up. An additional 400 to 500 members are said to be inside and around the centre.

Which roads are blocked by the TLP protest?

Multan Road has been closed from all sides near the stage, including Fawara Chowk, Shah Noor Scheme cut, Utility Store Scheme cut, Shah Farid.

All routes from Yateem Khana Chowk have been closed by containers.

Roads from Kali Kothi, Iqbal Town, Scheme Moor, Sodiwal, Niazi Ada, and Samanabad have been sealed with barbed wire and containers.

TLP protestors carrying sticks have set up at all the closed points and protest areas.

Agreement between the TLP and the government

On April 20, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said in a video message that the long negotiations between the government and TLP had been successful.

He said the government has accepted the TLP’s demand and tabled a resolution on the expulsion of the French ambassador. It has also ordered the release of TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi and arrested workers.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s argument

Before the agreement, on April 19 PM Khan explained how his government’s method was different from the TLP’s. He was addressing the nation. “The goal is the same,” he said. “No one should dare insult Him (PBUH).”

The prime minister said all Muslim countries would have to convey their concerns to the West. “If all Muslim states said this together, then this would have an impact.”

“Would sending the French ambassador back and severing ties with them stop all of this,” he asked. “Is there any guarantee that no one would blaspheme against Him (PBUH) after that?”

PM Khan said when Muslims stage street demonstrations, the West considers it a protest against the freedom of expression.

The premier said coronavirus patients could not get oxygen because of road blockades and public property worth millions was gutted.

Fawad Chaudhry’s reaction

On April 21, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcast Fawad Chaudhry had tweeted that the agreement between the government and the TLP has been successful. The arrested TLP workers have been released by the government and protests in the country have ended.

Pakistan upholds TLP ban, its electoral symbol cancelled

The federal government had formally proscribed the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan for engaging in terrorism and creating a sense of fear and insecurity in the country. The party had been proscribed under section 11B (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. It empowers the government to ban an organisation involved in terrorism.

The party had submitted a petition against the ban. It was decided that the ban was “based on facts and merit”. The party members had attacked policemen, tortured them, and killed law enforcers; they even damaged public property.

The Election Commission of Pakistan accepted the government’s petition and cancelled the outlawed group’s electoral symbol, a crane.

These steps are being taken under the anti-terrorism act.

The TLP had received more than 2.2 million votes in the 2018 general elections and it has three members in the Sindh Assembly.

From Faizabad to Faiz Hameed

When the TLP was staging a protest at Faizabad, there was an impression among the public that the government and state institutions were not on the same page. Despite this, an agreement was reached with the TLP.

Incumbent DG ISI Lt General Faiz Hameed was one of the signatories to the 2017 agreement signed between the government and the TLP.

How did the TLP protests start?

In November last year, the TLP staged a protest against the re-publication of sacrilegious caricature by French magazine Charlie Hebdo and French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to defend it. The protest ended after the government and the TLP entered an agreement.

In early February 2021, the TLP again gave the government a deadline to expel the French ambassador and boycott their products by February 16.

However, the protest was called off after both parties reached an agreement on February 11. Ghulam Ghous, Dr Muhamad Shafeeq, Ghulam Abbas and Muhammad Umair represented the TLP while Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri and Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed were from the government’s side.

The TLP had demanded that their leaders and workers whose names have been put on the Fourth Schedule, be cleared. According to the agreement, the government will present the agreement in Parliament by April and the prime minister would announce it.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised take up the matter in Parliament. The matter dragged on unresolved, however, and the TLP ended up deciding to stage protests across the country.

On April 19, religious leaders called for a country-wide protest against a police crackdown on TLP workers.

PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, business communities and lawyers associations in many cities supported the strike call.