ISLAMABAD – The chief of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi and other party leaders has been booked under treason and terrorism charges.
“The government has decided to take legal action against leaders of the TLP leader and has been charged under terrorism and treason laws at the Civil Lines Police station in Lahore,” said Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday.
Another key leader of TLP, Afzal Hussain Qadri, has been booked under the charges of terrorism in Gujrat, added Chaudhry.
TLP leader, Inayatul Haq Shah, has been charged under treason and anti-terrorism laws in Rawalpindi while Hafiz Farooq ul Hassan also been charged under similar laws, said Information Minister.
Addressing a presser, the Information Minister said that citizens had a right to protest but they should remain within the limits permitted by the Constitution of Pakistan.
Chaudhry added that public and private properties were damaged during the protests, causing losses of millions of rupees.
He said the government had taken a total of 2,899 people into custody from Punjab, as well as 139 persons from Sindh and 126 from Islamabad in the crackdown against the religious party.
Those who harmed the lives and livelihood of the public would have to bear the full weight of law, he said, adding that cases under terrorism laws would also be registered against those protesters who were involved in disrespecting women.
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The 52-year-old firebrand cleric was arrested on November, 23 from Lahore’s Hanjarwal area; TLP led countrywide protests last month against the Supreme Court’s acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman facing blasphemy charges. The days-long protests had paralyzed routine life in major cities of the country.
Meanwhile, major police crackdown is underway across Punjab to foil TLP’s gathering in the federal capital.
Rizvi had criticized the state institutions including the government, military, and the judiciary on numerous occasions, most notably after a failed round of negotiations between the TLP and the government over the acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for blasphemy.
