Chances of ban-lifting grow: Banned TLP may breathe freely soon

LAHORE: Declared proscribed on April 15, 2021 under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 to enter the list of 79 forbidden organisations, the 75-month-old Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) might soon find its ban lifted amidst criticism against the sitting regime in Islamabad that it has visibly caved in to the demands of the militant outfit, which has now inked seventh pact in four years (with PMLN and PTI regimes) since November 2017 to unblock roads and go home.

The religious-cum-political TLP, which belongs to Barelvi school of thought, had secured over 2.2 million votes in 2018 elections, emerging as the fifth largest party in the country, courtesy the fiery and the spell-binding informal sermons aired by its late founder, Khadim Rizvi, at the mosque inside the mausoleum of famous saint, Hazrat Shah Abu’al Maali, near the Lahore Hotel.

Just to recap, it couldn’t win any National Assembly or the Punjab Assembly seat, though three of its candidates had emerged victorious in Sindh to find entry tickets to the provincial assembly. Interestingly, despite being banned, this religious group was allowed to contest the 2018 ballot exercise in Sindh, and had ended up securing third place in Karachi by-elections. Here follows some most recent chronology to give the readers an idea of what has transpired during the last three weeks in this context: On October 9, the Supreme Court Review Board, headed by Justice Maqbool Baqir, had heard the matter related to current TLP boss Saad Rizvi’s release on an application filed by the Punjab government, which had sought seeking the detention of the jailed religious leader.

However, when the Review Board raised some questions on the application filed by the Punjab government, the Usman Buzdar-led provincial regime had withdrawn its petition. On October 11, 2021, the Punjab government had challenged the order passed by Lahore High Court in the Supreme Court. The LHC, on a petition filed by Ameer Hussain (Saad Hussain Rizvi’s uncle), had declared the detention illegal.

Consequently, in pursuance of the LHC ruling, deputy commissioner Lahore had issued orders for the release of Saad Rizvi. And hardly a week ago, on October 25, some key government functionaries like Sh Rashid had dropped hints for unfreezing TLP’s bank accounts, releasing Saad Rizvi from jail, and reverting the decision of declaring the militant outfit a “proscribed organization”.

Federal Interior Minister Sh Rashid was quoted by media as saying: “Mentally, we should accept that TLP is the third-largest party of Punjab and it has to do politics. We do not want any confrontation; we want to end this daily quarrel. We are sticking to our commitments. Whatever promises we have made to them (TLP), we will abide by them”.

On October 28, the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had re-clamped its earlier ban imposed on media coverage of the TLP, as the religious group had persisted with its violent long march to Islamabad via GT Road.

It was also on October 28 that Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had made it clear that the government would not hold any talks with the TLP unless its members cleared the streets they had blocked and hand over those responsible for the deaths of the police personnel on duty to authorities.

On his official twitter handle, Fawad had asserted: “We have made it clear that there will be no talks unless the workers of the proscribed party clear the roads and hand over those involved in the martyrdom of police personnel to the institutions”.

On October 29, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing had launched a crackdown on the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik social media accounts, taking 12 people from different cities into custody and opened a probe.

It was also on October 29 that Prime Minister Imran Khan reportedly told the participants of the National Security Committee that no group or entity would be allowed to cause public disruption or use violence to put pressure on the government. On October 30, premier Imran Khan had met a delegation comprising religious scholars belonging to the Barelvi school of thought at his residence in Islamabad to find a way out of the crisis that was otherwise deepening. The TLP was founded by late Khadim Hussain Rizvi in August 2015. Khadim Hussain Rizvi died at the age of 54 in Lahore on November 19, 2020, but not before he had gained countrywide recognition for his stance on issues like blasphemy and his vocal opposition of the Ahmedis in Pakistan.

On November 6, 2017, Rizvi had organised a Lahore-Islamabad long march to successfully press for the resignation of the then law minister Zahid Hamid. The firebrand TLP boss, an excellent orator by all means, had alleged the above-mentioned minister of favouring the Ahmedis during the course of framing a law. In September 2018, the PTI government had asked the Princeton University economist, Atif Mian, to step down from the Economic Advisory Council. This decision had come on the heels of mounting pressure from country’s religious parties, chiefly the TLP, which had championed the cause and spearheaded the campaign.