LAHORE: The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) top brass on Wednesday postponed their planned presser, telling the media that they would continue their sit-in until at least Friday, when they would announce their plans.
Pir Afzal Qadri, a senior leader of TLP, said they had extended their deadline by two more days on the request of the negotiations team.
Scores of TLP activists have staged a sit-in at Lahore Data Darbar, pressing the government to fulfil the terms agreed in the controversial army-brokered agreement during the Faizabad sit-in last year.
Earlier, the protesters had given government until Wednesday to fulfil their demands, with a warning of countrywide protests.
It might be mentioned that an anti-terrorism court had declared TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Pir Azfal Qadri, Maulana Inayatullah and Shiekh Azhar absconders over their no-show in court.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Punjab government, Malik Ahmed Khan, said that arresting Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and other leaders was proving to be difficult for the provincial authorities.
He said that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was in constant contact with the protesters and was trying to convince them to abandon the sit-in. The government, he said, wants the protest to conclude through dialogue.
However, he added that the demands made in the Faizabad agreement could not be fulfilled as the Islamabad High Court had declared the agreement null and void.
“There are some elements present at the sit-in who can create a violent situation if the government uses police action [against them]. We want to avoid a Faizabad-like situation at Data Darbar,” Khan said, explaining why the government was erring on the side of caution while dealing with the protest.
The contentious Faizabad agreement had led to the resignation of the then law minister Zahid Hamid in return for the TLP promising they would issue no edict against him.
The protests at the capital’s Faizabad Interchange had begun last year after a change to the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat oath via the Elections Act 2017 came to the fore. Despite the government terming it a clerical mistake and immediately moving to bring the document back to its original form, the opposition and TLP demanded action against those involved.
Violent protests then spread across the country after the federal government used force against those camping at Faizabad. The protests were eventually called off when the government accepted most of their major demands under an army-brokered 11-point agreement.
Published in Daily Times, April 5th 2018.
