Pakistan, Islamists reach deal to end protests

Islamabad: Negotiations between the Pakistan government’s team of ministers and representatives of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) made headway on Sunday with both sides consenting to show flexibility in their stance.

However, the government’s negotiating team while announcing the ‘good news’ did not reveal any further details and the guarantor of the agreement. Mufti Muneebur Rehman, addressing a press conference, said the details would be made public at an “appropriate time.”

The agreement came after clashes, protests and roadblocks that lasted two weeks resulting in the death of at least seven policemen while scores were injured in attacks by TLP protesters.

The TLP was demanding the release of their leader, Saad Rizvi, and the expulsion of France’s ambassador from Pakistan over the publication of blasphemous caricatures in a French satirical magazine.

“The agreement was reached after sense prevailed over aggression and this is not the win or loss of anyone. This is the victory of Pakistan, Islam, patriotism, and the security of the nation,” said Mufti Muneebur Rehman, who was flanked by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.

TLP members of the central council Mufti Ghulam Abbas Faizi and Mufti Mohammad Ameer were also present at the press conference.

The agreement, which will be revealed at the “right time”, is backed by the chief of the proscribed TLP Saad Rizvi, said Mufti Muneebur Rehman. In the next week, you will see the positive outcome of the agreement.”

A steering committee under the leadership of Ali Muhammad Khan has been formed to oversee the implementation of the agreement and keep both the sides updated on the latest situation, Mufti Muneeb further informed the media.

Punjab’s Minister for Law Raja Basharat and the Home Secretary will represent the government’s side while the TLP would be represented by Mufti Ghulam Ghous Baghdadi and Hafeezullah Alavi in the committee.

“This not an agreement which is prepared in the morning and then withdrawn later on,” Rehman pointed out.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the government chose the path of peace instead of chaos and bloodshed.

He thanked the religious leaders for “saving the country from a test.”

“On Friday when I returned from Tehran, the National Security Council meeting was called,” he said. “After contemplation, it was decided that talks would be preferred and the focus would be to resolve this issue with sensibility.”

A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting with the religious leaders and after the meeting a new negotiation team was constituted that was led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Later, the chief of the TLP Saad Rizvi and three senior members of the TLP central committee — Maulana Shafiq Amini, Hafezullah, and Pir Inayatul Haq — were brought to Islamabad from Lahore for direct negotiations.

Life was paralysed in the cities of Punjab falling along the Grand Trunk (GT) Road where the TLP march was underway. The angry protesters had set vehicles on fire, injured and attacked motorists, public transport and even police resulting in the death of seven policemen.

According to the police the protesters were armed with automatic weapons and removed barriers from the roads with the help of heavy machinery.

Outside Wazirabad, a city in Punjab, the security forces had dug trenches and placed barricades on the roads in a bid to contain the mob near a crossing over the Chenab.

Although the agreement was reached with the government, TLP supporters were still in Wazirabad city Sunday evening waiting for their elders’ directions regarding future strategy.