LAHORE: Punjab Monday challenged in the Supreme Court a Lahore High Court (LHC) order declaring the detention of the chief of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party illegal and directing the provincial government to release him immediately.
Saad Hussain Rizvi, son of the late firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, was arrested in April on charges of inciting his followers and party activists to take the law into their own hands after, according to him, the government had reneged on its promise to expel the French ambassador over the publication of blasphemous caricatures.
His detention was scheduled to end on July 10 in light of a decision of the review board of the Supreme Court. However, the office of the deputy commissioner issued a fresh notification extending the detention for another three months under Section 11-EEE (powers to arrest and detain suspected persons) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
On August 2, Rizvi, through his uncle, filed another petition with the high court, claiming the government extended his detention with “mala fide intention”. He said it implicated him in 14 criminal cases following his detention.
Through the petition, Rizvi’s uncle asked the court to declare the extension of the detention period illegal and order his release. Two weeks later, on August 17, the court sought replies from the authorities on the request.
Subsequently, on October 1, the court declared as illegal the detention of Rizvi. Following the court order, the Lahore deputy commissioner, Umer Sher Chattha, also issued orders for his release.
The orders have yet to be complied with, however, and Rizvi is still in custody.
TLP FIASCO
The government outlawed the hardline religious group in April after it blocked main highways, railways and access routes to major cities, assaulting police and burning public property. Four police officers were killed and more than 500 wounded.
The violence erupted after the government detained Rizvi ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France campaign to pressure the Islamabad government to expel the French ambassador in response to the publication of blasphemous cartoons in France last year.
In subsequent talks, the TLP presented four main demands. They included the expulsion of the French ambassador, the release of Rizvi and around 1,400 arrested workers, lifting the ban on the group and the dismissal of Minister of Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.
Relations between Paris and Islamabad worsened last year after President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to a French history teacher who was beheaded by an 18-year-old man of Chechen origin for showing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in a class on freedom of speech.
Protests erupted in several Muslim countries over France’s response to the killing of the teacher. The cartoons were reprinted elsewhere as well.
At the time, the government allegedly signed a deal promising to present a resolution in parliament by April 20 to seek approval for the expulsion of the French envoy and to endorse a boycott of French products.
— With additional input from Reuters
