Sit-in by supporters of banned Pakistani group enters fourth day despite deal with government

ISLAMABAD: Thousands of supporters of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious party remained camped in Wazirabad, a city some 190 kilometers from the federal capital, on Monday, continuing their protest sit-in for the fourth consecutive day.
On Sunday, the government announced it had signed a peace agreement with the banned group while the party said it would not call off its now over a week-long protest until the release of its chief Saad Rizvi who has been in jail since April for inciting violence against the state.
Details of Sunday’s pact were not shared with the public by either side.
“Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan workers on Monday abandoned their long march to Islamabad after the proscribed group’s leadership inked an agreement with the government, but continued their sit-in in Wazirabad for a fourth day,” the Dawn newspaper reported.
On Sunday, the government set up a steering committee led by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan to make a strategy for Rizvi’s release and the removal of the ban on his party. 
“This dharna [sit-in] will be called off completely after the release of Saad Rizvi,” Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, TLP’s chief negotiator, told protesters in Wazirabad on Sunday.
The protest would continue in a nearby park in the city “until the government will fulfill at least fifty percent of the demands,” he said. 
The outlawed group also announced the reopening of the Grand Trunk Road for traffic from Monday, which it had closed down for four days.
The TLP has been demanding the release of its chief and the expulsion of the French envoy from Pakistan over the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in France last year. The government proscribed the party in April for inciting violence against the state and it is now pushing the government to lift the ban.
“The word ‘proscribed’ with the TLP will be removed and the process may take a week,” Rehman said, while referring to the agreement signed with the government. “The agreement will be implemented [by the government] in letter and spirit.” 
“We will come back with full might,” the cleric warned the government, if it dared to back out of its commitments.
The TLP began a long march toward Islamabad from Lahore on October 22 after violent clashes with law enforcement personnel that led to the deaths of two policemen. Two more policemen were killed and several others injured in similar incidents in Muridke and Sadhoke as protesters forced their way past barricades while moving toward the capital.
Shortly after announcing the agreement with the TLP, the government released two members of the group’s advisory council (majlis-e-shura), Dr. Mohammad Shafiq Amini and Pir Syed Zaheerul Hassan Shah, who then joined TLP supporters at the Wazirabad sit-in.
“This agreement [with the government] will be considered null and void if any of the [TLP] members or a leader is arrested from today onwards,” Rehman said, urging TLP activists to stay united: “This is the start of our journey, not the end.”