ISLAMABAD: Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noor-ul-Haq Qadri on Saturday announced that a 12-member committee has been constituted to play the negotiator’s role between the government and banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The minister made these remarks while talking to journalists after attending a meeting of the state officials and religious scholars belonging to the Barelvi school of thought with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.
Talking about the meeting, the federal minister said that religious leaders from across the country met the prime minister and expressed the resolve to wrap up the matter peacefully. “The premier also told the ulema that their suggestions, which might save the country from bloodshed, will also be considered”, Qadri added.
“The 12-member committee is in talks with the TLP leadership, and we hope they can move forward in their negotiations with the proscribed political party,” the Religious Minister added.
Taking over the presser, President Sunni Ittehad Council (Faisalabad) Sahibzada Hamid Raza said the prime minister had assured the meeting’s participants that the government would not use “torture” to curtail the protests.
Raza said the prime minister told the meeting that he did not wish to see bloodshed in the country, but noted that there would be “no compromise when it came to the writ of the state.”
“We urge the protesters to not resort to violence as negotiations are underway in different parts of the country,” the SIC president said. When asked whether the protest was a constitutional right, Raza said that the protesters should remain where there and not move forward.
Roads remained blocked and traffic suspended in Wazirabad on Saturday as TLP protestors intending to march on Islamabad encamped near the city for a second straight day.
Outside Wazirabad, security forces have dug trenches and placed barricades on the roads in an attempt to contain the mob near a crossing over the Chenab.
