Government Registered Cases Against TLP Protestors Involved in Rioting

The federal and provincial governments registered cases against TLP leaders and workers for creating law and order situation, attacking police and damaging properties and vehicles. The government took this initiative to book rioters a day after signing an agreement with TLP to end country wide sit-ins and protests.

The government came under heavy criticism for surrendering its writ and authority in front of TLP protestors.

The government swung into action and registered cases against thousands of TLP leaders and activists across the country involved in violence. According to the media reports, the Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the arrest of the people who were engaged in vandalism and directed the federal government to work in collaboration with the provincial governments.

Prime Minister Imran Khan is in China for a five day long state visit to negotiate a financial package to ease pressure on the foreign reserves and external payments. He is not happy that protestors were not stopped from damaging properties and vehicles.

On the instructions from PM, the Interior Ministry started a crackdown across the country and registered FIRs against TLP Patron-in-Chief Pir Afzal Qadri, central leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi and others.

The interior state minister Shaharyar Afridi attended a briefing from intelligence agencies on the current security situation in the country. The decision to launch the crackdown against protestors was taken after the briefing.

The interior ministry decided to start a crackdown across the country on the miscreants who damaged the property and harmed the unarmed citizens in the name of protests.

The interior minister made it clear that this action is only against those who took law into their own hands. “I respect the religious scholars who said they were not involved in the damage and that some miscreants were doing this. The interior ministry is taking steps to identify those miscreants,” he said.

The minister said those who spread provocative material and hate speech on social media would also face action, adding that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman and the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Cybercrime Wing had been ordered to take action against such people.

The police across the country started to registered cases against TLP activists and leaders. It seemsthat government finally decided to take on the TLP and its violent way of protests.

In Lahore, the police registered 11 cases against 1,500 persons including the TLP leaders – Allama Khadim Hussian Rizvi and Pir Afzal Qadri – for blocking roads and creating law and order situation. The FIRs against Qadri and Rizvi have been sealed.

In Faisalabad, the police registered 29 cases against 3,000 protestors and arrested 218 persons from across the district. In Chiniot 3 cases were registered and 13 persons were arrested; in Sargodha 2 cases were registered against 300 persons and in Jhang two cases were registered against 150 persons. Twelve of these people were arrested.

In Islamabad two cases were registered against more than 100 protestors involved in rioting and blockade of the roads.

In Karachi, Police have registered cases against all those involved in rioting and violence.

The police have asked the citizen to identify the rioters and send the pictures and videos to the police.