Govt can't arrest Khadim Rizvi due to Faizabad accord: Sanaullah

Punjab minister says ‘aliens’ facilitated JPSM-PTI deal

LAHORE: Punjab law minister Rana Sana Ullah has said it was not the Punjab government that is abstaining from arresting Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi instead the government had signed an agreement with the party, ratified by a guarantor, indirectly stating that the government would not arrest Khadim Hussain Rizvi despite court orders.

Alluding to the agreement, he said when the government signs an agreement, it has to abide by it as well. It is pertinent to mention here that earlier this year, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had issued arrest warrants for Tehreek-e-Labbaik firebrand clerics Khadim Rizvi and Afzal Qadri in a case related to last year’s Faizabad sit-in.



The arrest warrants for Rizvi and others were issued by an ATC and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over their continued failure to appear for hearings.

Similarly, a total of 27 criminal cases were registered against the TLP leader and other sit-in participants by the capital police for challenging the writ of government as they blocked the Faizabad inter-change for almost three weeks, confronting and attacking law enforcement agencies officials and damaging public property.

The three-week long protest ended on November 27 after an agreement brokered by the military between the demonstrators and the federal government. One of the demands approved in the agreement, signed by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, ISI official Major-General Faiz Hamid and TLP leaders was to dismiss all police cases against them and release of those arrested. However, the cases were not quashed by the authorities and are open to date.



 “Aliens are not only present but playing an effective role in supporting and promoting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf,” said Rana Sanaullah, referring to the concept of ‘extra-terrestrial forces’ hogging the political arena by Nawaz Sharif.

The provincial minister also said that this time around, aliens were running an election cell for PTI by advising them suitable candidates from constituencies. He said that independent candidates were first brought under NAB’s hammer and now were being requested to move according to their wishes.

“Aliens first extracted them from PML-N, and later, assessing flaws in their schemes, moved them to PTI,” claimed Sanaullah while talking about party defectors joining PTI.