LAHORE – Police are planning a crackdown to round up the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leadership and scuttle its planned protests today (Friday), as the Punjab government moves to ask the Centre to ban the outfit.
Although most TLP leaders have ‘gone underground’ following the Muridke crackdown, the authorities are apprehensive about the hardline group’s plans to take to the streets after Friday prayers to stage another protest, Dawn News reported. These anxieties stem from a statement by TLP Balochistan president Wazir Ahmad Rizvi, who had called on protesters to converge on Lahore’s Data Darbar on Oct 17 (today), as well as intelligence reports suggesting that TLP activists may engage in violent clashes and widespread chaos after Friday prayers.
A senior police official told Dawn that the law enforcement agencies had received a list of the TLP activists and had been assigned special tasks to launch a large-scale crackdown on Thursday night to ensure a large number of arrests before Friday. He said that the Punjab police senior command held a series of important meetings to arrest the ‘leftover’ leadership of the radical outfit that had gone into hiding following the Muridke crackdown.
The officer said that a series of meetings were held in this regard on Thursday to devise multiple strategies in this respect. Chairing a high-level meeting, Punjab police chief Dr Usman Anwar approved a deployment of 30,000 personnel on the roads across the province, besides assigning special duties to 12,000 plainclothesmen of the Punjab Special Branch.
At least five locations in the provincial capital have been declared ‘sensitive’ since these have remained the hub of violent attacks carried out by the TLP in recent demonstrations. These included the TLP head on Multan Road, Shahdara, Chungi Amar Sidhu, Baghbanpura, Thokar Niaz Baig, and the Babu Sabu interchange.
Warning against violence
During the meeting, the police officers were given instructions on how to ‘handle the mobs’ in case of violence. “We have decided to treat the violators under anti-terrorism and other heinous charges to take them to the court of law for punishment up to 10 and 14 years,” Punjab police chief Dr Usman Anwar said. He said Section 144 has been imposed across Punjab, banning all kinds of gatherings, demonstrations, processions and rallies. The Punjab Home Department has formally issued a notification enforcing Section 144 across the province, he said.
“If anyone tries to attack law enforcers, vandalise public property or take the law into their hands, we are here to deal with them with iron hands,” Dr Usman said, adding that instructions have been issued to trace and arrest the TLP violators with the help of the AI-based technology. He said that the data of the TLP men wanted by the Punjab police had been updated in the record of the Safe City cameras and vehicles of the patrolling police to trace and arrest them.
TLP ban
In a meeting chaired by CM Maryam Nawaz, the Punjab government has also decided to place the TLP leadership in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Without naming any party, an official handout referred to decisions taken against an “extremist party”. However, Information Minister Azma Bokhari later confirmed that the reference was to TLP. According to the handout, the Punjab will “recommend to the federal government to impose a ban on an extremist party and the party leadership be placed in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act”.
Apart from these recommendations, Punjab also decided to arrest all “individuals involved in hate speech, incitement and violation of law. All leaders and workers involved in the martyrdom of police officers and damage to state property will be tried in anti-terrorism courts (ATCs)”. “All properties and assets of the extremist party will be handed over to the Punjab Auqaf Department. There will be a complete ban on the extremist party’s posters, banners and advertisements,” the statement added.
It further said that all bank accounts of the party will be frozen and that social media accounts spreading hatred will also be taken down. The Punjab would also ensure strict action on the violation of the Loudspeaker Act. It may be mentioned here that the federal government had banned the TLP in April 2021 on the recommendation of the Punjab government under the ATA.
The ban was later revoked in November that year upon the request of the Punjab government, days after a deal was reached with the group to end its violent protest march towards Islamabad.
