Our Correspondent Wazirabad
The activists of proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan remained in Wazirabad for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, camping at a park in the city, awaiting the release of party chief Saad Hussain Rizvi even after the government claimed it had reached an agreement with the protesters on Sunday.
Rizvi, who is the son of late TLP founder Khadim Rizvi, was taken into custody under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960 on April 12 over charges that he had incited his followers to take the law into their own hands as, according to him, the government had reneged on its promise to expel the French ambassador.
The Lahore High Court ordered Rizvi’s release last month but the government did not move ahead with the order, planning instead to take the case to the Supreme Court, triggering the TLP’s latest round of protests in Lahore on Oct 20.
The TLP leadership had on Oct 30 asked the protesters to wait at Wazirabad for further instructions when the government and the group started negotiations. Both sides reached an agreement the next day but have not made the details public.
“The government is seriously mulling over to cool down the situation in a manner that its efforts do not go waste and a long-term solution is reached in wake of government-TLP agreement,” added the source. However, no action on this has been taken so far.
In the latest development, the TLP workers have erected a camp at a park near Allahwala Chowk in Wazirabad but refrained from disrupting routine life in adherence to directives of the group’s leaders.
The personnel of law enforcement agencies are also present in the surrounding of the park, monitoring the situation.
However, internet service remains suspended in the city, causing hardships to people. The obstacles placed on the railway bridge on the River Chenab three days ago to bar the TLP marchers from crossing it on foot were removed, but trenches dug by authorities were not filled until Wednesday evening, causing disruption in the movement of vehicular traffic towards Islamabad.
