TLP 'gives up' demand for expulsion of French ambassador to seal deal with government

The negotiating team of the government claimed on Sunday to have reached a deal with the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). 

Mufti Muneebur Rehman, who is part of the government’s negotiating team, said that specifics of the deal would be shared with people at an "appropriate time".

However, a section of the Pakistani media cited sources as revealing key points of the agreement signed by the government and the TLP. According to the sources, the TLP has reportedly given up its demand for expulsion of the French ambassador. Also, according to the sources, TLP activists facing terrorism and other criminal charges would have to seek relief from courts, but the government would release all others booked during the religious group’s anti-government protests earlier this year. 

The two sides are also said to have reached an agreement that the TLP would join the mainstream politics as a political party. The government would not take any action against the participants in the latest protest movement led by the TLP, says the agreement. Protesters will leave the protest venue within a day or two and remove barricades from various highways and roads tonight (Sunday night). 

It is said that Mufti Muneebur Rehman has played the role of a guarantor in the peace deal between the government and the TLP. 

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar and Federal Minister Ali Muhammad Khan has signed the agreement with the TLP on behalf of the government. 

The reported agreement comes after almost two weeks of clashes that left at least seven policemen dead and scores injured on both sides.

The banned religious group had begun the march for the release of its chief Saad Rizvi from jail and expulsion of French ambassador from Pakistan over publication of caricatures depicting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in a satirical magazine.