ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Wednesday said that the first information reports (FIR) against Saad Hussain Rizvi and 209 other Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters will go through court.
In a press conference, he said that TLP chief Rizvi’s case includes sections 78A (Acts done pursuant to the judgment or order of Court) and 302 (Punishment for murder).
Rasheed said that the ban on the party is not being reversed. The members can send an appeal against it to the Interior Ministry within 30 days. “If this happens, a committee will be formed to decide over the case.”
Around 1:45 pm, 669 TLP supporters arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order were released from jail. Most of them were from South Punjab and Faisalabad.
According to Rasheed, the agreement signed between the ministry and the religious party includes that decisions pertaining to all international matters will be taken by the government and no religious or political party will be allowed to pressurise them.
The minister said that a martyrs package will be given to the police officers killed during the TLP protests. C1 and C2 certificates and Rs4 billion will be distributed to the officers injured during the sit-ins and protests.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan will himself take Western countries into confidence and prepare a strategy of common interests for Muslims across the world.”
The government has decided that western countries will be sensitized to the issue of blasphemy, and Islamic countries urged to take a stance against blasphemous content, he stated.
The interior ministry is planning to bring a policy against hate speech, terrorism, and religious extremism to prevent any such breach in the law and order situation, Rasheed concluded.
TLP workers called off their sit-in outside Lahore’s Rehmatul Lil Alameen Mosque on Tuesday night after over a week.
The TLP and government negotiations began after protracted protests from the political party and its supporters across Pakistan starting last week. The protests began over the publication of blasphemous caricatures in a French magazine.
The TLP had been agitating from November and had been in talks with the government. However, when its chief Rizvi planned to march on Islamabad, he was taken into custody. Protests broke out after that, especially in Lahore and Karachi.
