ISLAMABAD: A government negotiator and minister of state, Ali Muhammad Khan, has said the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party would welcome the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious political group into “mainstream” politics, saying it should try to become a major political party in the country.

On Sunday, the government set up a steering committee led by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan to help implement TLP’s demands, including the release of its leader Saad Rizvi from prison and the removal of a ban imposed on the party in April.

TLP began a protest march last month calling for the release of Rizvi. The group also wants the expulsion of France's ambassador over the publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) in a French satirical magazine last year.

On Sunday, the group reached a deal with the government, ending more than a week of clashes with police that left at least six policemen dead and scores injured on both sides. The details of the pact have not been shared with the public by either side. 

“For long term solution [for TLP protests], I myself have said to them [TLP] and during our discussion two nights ago … we all [government representatives] told them that they should join mainstream [politics],” Khan said in a talk show. “Do politics, we welcome you. Become the third, fourth or fifth major political party.”

“And this [joining politics] should be the way forward… they [TLP] have a major following.”

TLP was founded in 2015 to tackle actions it considers blasphemous to Islam and has mounted multiple protest marches marred by bloodshed that have twice brought Islamabad to a standstill.

The government banned TLP in April after violent protests by the group in which at least six policemen were killed and 800 people were injured, according to government figures. After the protests, the government also agreed to have parliament vote on kicking out the French ambassador but backtracked, with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying to take such action would isolate Pakistan internationally.

On Tuesday, a senior TLP leader said the government had released over 1,000 jailed TLP supporters, and would free another 1,300 as well as drop all criminal charges against them under the peace agreement signed on Sunday.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, a top cleric Mufti Muneebur Rehman, who was among a group that helped reach Sunday’s agreement, said TLP had not demanded the “unconditional” expulsion of the French ambassador but that the issue should be debated in parliament.  

“TLP has never said that the government should expel the French ambassador and cease its relations with France,” Muneeb told Arab News. “They have said that this issue should be presented before parliament. Parliament can decide keeping in view Pakistan’s interest in the international community, our foreign policy and all other elements related to the country’s interest.”