KARACHI: Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Monday called off its protest sit-in in Punjab's Wazirabad city, asking supporters to head back to its Lahore headquarters, TLP said, a day after the religious political party was unbanned by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan following an agreement with the group.
TLP began a protest march to Islamabad last month calling for the release of its leader Saad Hussain Rizvi, who has been under arrest since April. The group also called for the expulsion of France’s ambassador over the publication of anti-Islam caricatures in a French satirical magazine last year.
On October 31, 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 were not shared with the public but it was widely reported that the agreement included a commitment by the government to release TLP leaders and supporters and lift a ban on the party.
On Sunday, the interior minister announced the party was no more on a list of banned groups.
Sajjad Saifi, TLP media coordinator, said the sit-in had been "transferred" from Wazirabad, a city some 210 kilometers from Islamabad, to Masjid Rehmatul-lil-Aalameen in Lahore and it would be completely called off only once the government implemented all points of the agreement.
“About 50 percent of the agreement has been implemented and two of our major demands have been fulfilled,” Sajjad told Arab News, explaining that the demands were the removal of a ban on the group and striking the names of its leaders and workers from the Fourth Schedule, a listing of militant suspects under a terrorism law.
“These were two major problems. The declaration of proscribed and enlisting of our workers and leaders in the Fourth Schedule were making huge problems for us,” Sajjad said.
“But we will completely end our sit-in once all points of the agreement are implemented and our leader Saad Rizvi is released,” Sajjad said.
In a video message shared with media, TLP leader Syed Sarwar Shah Saifi was also seen asking workers to move to Masjid Rahmatul-lil-Aalameen in Lahore.
“We are not going to our homes,” Sarwar told workers, adding that Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, who last week met Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on behalf of the TLP ahead of the government’s agreement with the group, had asked them to move back to Lahore after 50 percent of their demands were met.
Sarwar told workers TLP chief Saad Rizvi would be released and join them on the first death anniversary of TLP founder Khadim Hussain Rizvi on November 19.
As part of the peace deal, the government has already released at least 2,000 arrested workers of the proscribed group, though Saad Rizvi still remains in jail pending a decision by the Lahore High Court.
The government banned TLP in April this year 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 a parliamentary vote on kicking out the French ambassador but backtracked, with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying such an action would isolate Pakistan internationally.
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan asks supporters to call off Wazirabad sit-in after ban on party lifted
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Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan asks supporters to call off Wazirabad sit-in after ban on party lifted
- Religious political group asks supporters to leave Wazirabad, gather at Lahore headquarters until release of party chief
- TLP reached peace agreement with government on October 31, was banned last April after days of violent clashes
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
