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
https://arab.news/brd6b
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 combing for perpetrators after deadly Balochistan attacks
- Pakistan has been battling a Baloch separatist insurgency for decades, with frequent armed attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-locals
- Militants stormed banks, jails, police stations and military installations, killing 31 civilians and 17 security personnel, the Balochistan chief minister says
QUETTA: Pakistan forces were hunting on Sunday for the separatists behind a string of coordinated attacks in restive Balochistan province, with the government vowing to retaliate after more than 190 people were killed in two days.
Around a dozen sites remained sealed off, with troops combing the area a day after militants stormed banks, jails, police stations and military installations, killing at least 31 civilians and 17 security personnel, according to the chief minister of Balochistan province.
At least 145 attackers were also killed, he added, while an official told AFP that a deputy district commissioner had been abducted.
That figure includes more than 40 militants that security forces said were killed on Friday.
Mobile internet service across the province has been jammed for more than 24 hours, while road traffic is disrupted and train services suspended.
After being rocked by explosions, typically bustling Quetta lay quiet on Sunday, with major roads and businesses deserted, and people staying indoors out of fear.
Shattered metal fragments and mangled vehicles litter some roads.
"Anyone who leaves home has no certainty of returning safe and sound. There is constant fear over whether they will come back unharmed," Hamdullah, a 39-year-old shopkeeper who goes by one name, told AFP in Quetta.
The chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, told a press conference in Quetta that all the districts under attack were cleared on Sunday.
"We are chasing them, we will not let them go so easily," he said.
"Our blood is not that cheap. We will chase them until their hideouts."
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the province's most active militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement sent to AFP.
The group, which the United States has designated a terrorist organisation, said it had targeted military installations as well as police and civil administration officials in gun attacks and suicide bombings.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who flew to Quetta late Saturday to join funerals, claimed without offering any evidence that the attackers were supported by India.
"We will not spare a single terrorist involved in these incidents," he said.
In a press conference on Sunday, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif likewise claimed the attackers enjoyed links to India and pledged to "completely eliminate these terrorists".
India denied any involvement.
"We categorically reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan, which are nothing but its usual tactics to deflect attention from its own internal failings," said foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Sunday.
'BROAD DAYLIGHT'
Pakistan has been battling a Baloch separatist insurgency for decades, with frequent armed attacks on security forces, foreign nationals and non-local Pakistanis in the mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Saturday's attacks came a day after the military said it killed 41 insurgents in two separate operations in the province.
The insurgents released a video showing group leader Bashir Zaib leading armed units on motorcycles during the attack.
Another clip claimed to show the abducted senior official from Nushki district.
In another district, militants freed at least 30 inmates from a district jail, while seizing firearms and ammunition. They also ransacked a police station and took ammunition with them.
"It was one of the most audacious attacks in the region in recent years, as unlike other attacks, it took place in broad daylight," Abdul Basit at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore told AFP.
"It is alarming that militants, with coordinated manpower and strategic acumen, have now reached the provincial capital," he added.
Several of the BLA's videos featured women insurgents, while Defence Minister Asif said at least one of the suicide bombers was a young woman.
"They continue to showcase women strategically in high-visibility attacks," Basit said.
Pakistan's poorest province and largest by landmass, Balochistan lags behind the rest of the country in almost every index, including education, employment and economic development.
Baloch separatists accuse Pakistan's government of exploiting the province's natural gas and abundant mineral resources, without benefiting the local population. The government denies this.
The BLA has intensified attacks on Pakistanis from other provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms.
Last year, the separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a deadly two-day siege.
