LAHORE: In a major development on Saturday Punjab government has decided to withdraw a reference against Tehreek-e-Labbaik Chief Saad Hussain Rizvi on the grounds that all the allegations against Rizvi could not be established.
It has been reported that the government has written a letter to withdraw a reference against Saad Rizvi from the Federal Review Board (FRB) saying the provincial government intended to take back the case against Saad Rizvi.
The review board is likely to announce its decision in this regard on November 15 (this Monday). On October 10, the FRB had rejected the Punjab government’s plea seeking extension in custody of Hafiz Rizvi, saying that how they could extend the detention period after the Lahore High Court had quashed it.
The FBR comprises Justice Maqbool Baqir of the Supreme Court, Justice Ayesha A Malik of the Lahore High Court and Justice Noorul Amin of the Balochistan High Court.
On Nov 11, the Punjab government had removed the names of TLP Chief Saad Rizvi and 577 other activists from the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC).
An order, issued by the Punjab Home Department, had stated that Rizvi was enlisted on the Fourth schedule on the recommendation of the District Intelligence Committee, Lahore.
The Punjab government had already removed TLP from the First schedule, “name of Hafiz Muhammad Saad s/o Khadim Hussain is, hereby, deleted from the list of 4th Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 with immediate effect,” it added.
