ISLAMABAD: Mufti Muneeb ur Rehman, the former head of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, late Sunday announced a shutter-down strike across the country today (Monday) in support of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). He asked the government to release TLP workers and withdraw its ban on the group.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) announced its support for Mufti Muneebur Rehman’s nationwide strike call. Talking to reporters in the capital, Islamabad, JUI-F chief Molana Fazlur Rehman said one can disagree with TLP stance on different issues but now they are on the streets for a ‘good cause’, so our support is with them. “Government still have time to sit with TLP and peacefully resolve the issue,” he said.
Negotiations underway
Rioters from proscribed TLP have released 11 policemen that it had held hostage yesterday, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Interior, confirmed in a video message on Twitter. “Government has started negotiations with TLP and the first round has gone well,” he said, adding, the second round to commence post-Sehri.
TLP chief urges workers to end the sit-in, surrender before law
Hafiz Muhammad Saad Rizvi, detained head of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), in a letter written to Majlis-e-Shura (advisory council) of the party urges his party workers to “end countrywide protests and return home peacefully.”
The council members must surrender themselves to the law as “owing to their stubbornness, hundreds of workers, as well as the general public, have been suffering”, the message read.
Clashes erupted Sunday
A group of miscreants on Sunday attacked the Nawankot Police Station in Lahore and abducted half a dozen policemen including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), in a fresh wave of violence sparked after the arrest of the party chief last week.
“Today in the early morning, miscreants attacked Nawankot Police Station where [paramilitary] Rangers and police officers were trapped inside the police station and [Deputy Superintendent] Nawankot [was] kidnapped and taken in the [TLP] markaz,” said a brief statement issued by the provincial police.
“The miscreants were armed and attacked the Rangers/police with petrol bombs. [The] police and Rangers pushed them back and took back the possession of the police station,” it added.
