Govt mulls over implementing deal with TLP

Resolution in parliament is expected before Eid

The government has decided to table a resolution, regarding the demands of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), including the expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan, in parliament before Eidul Fitr.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and relevant senior officials.

Sources said that the meeting discussed the strategy for implementing the agreement reached with the TLP. It was also decided that other parties would be contacted on issue of French ambassador’s deportation. The meeting decided to bring the resolution in parliament before Eid.

The TLP had announced a sit-in in Islamabad to press for its demands. But on February 10, a government committee headed by Religious Affairs Minister Qadri assured the TLP that it would seek parliamentary approval on its demands by April 20.

The TLP has been demanding expulsion of the French ambassador over publication of blasphemous caricatures. In November last year, the party staged a sit-in in Rawalpindi, which ended after an agreement with the government.

The TLP announced on November 17 that the government had accepted all its four demands. The TLP had released a copy of the handwritten agreement, carrying signatures of Qadri, then interior minister Ijaz Shah and the deputy commissioner, Islamabad.

The agreement said that the government would take a decision from the parliament regarding expulsion of the French ambassador within three months, will not appoint its ambassador to France and release all the arrested workers of the TLP. The government will not register any case against the TLP leaders or workers even after it calls off the sit-in.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)