Observer Report Islamabad
After days of staging protests in Lahore’s streets, the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan announced on Thursday that its will start a “long march” towards Islamabad on Friday, according to a statement issued by the TLP media cell.
“The peaceful Namoos-i-Risalat march of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan towards Islamabad will start after Friday prayers” from the TLP’s markaz (headquarters), the statement said, adding that the group also had a “plan B” in case its members were stopped from marching on the capital.
Hundreds of TLP workers have been participating in a sit-in in Lahore to exert pressure on the Punjab government for the release of its chief, Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi, the son of its late founder Khadim Rizvi.
The younger Rizvi has been kept in detention by the Punjab government since April 12 for “maintenance of public order”.
In a statement issued prior to the announcement of the long march, the TLP’s Majlis-i-Shura (executive council) had decried that the group’s members had been staging a “peaceful protest” in the streets for the past 15 days, yet their demand for the implementation of an agreement reached between them and the govt earlier this year remained unmet.
