2 yıl önce

Banned conservative Pakistani group cancels march after government deal

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, "an agreement for peace and betterment has been reached” without elaborating on the accord as the group said details would emerge at a later stage.

AP

The conservative religious party had been banned over violent protests in April 2021.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a banned conservative religious party, called off a protest march to the capital Islamabad after reaching a deal with the government.

The decision on Sunday ended two weeks of clashes that left at least seven policemen dead and scores injured on both sides.

“An agreement for peace and betterment has been reached,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who represented the government in negotiations with the TLP, told a news conference.

Mufti Muneeb ur-Rehman, the main TLP negotiator, confirmed a deal had been struck and said details would emerge at a later stage, "but you will see the practical manifestations shortly".

Qureshi also declined to elaborate on the accord.

The hardline Pakistani religious group had begun the march calling for the release of their jailed leader Saad Rizvi.

They also demanded the expulsion of France's ambassador over publication caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a French satirical magazine.

The National Security Committee had vowed on Friday to crack down hard on the banned TLP if violent protests continued.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Rizvi could not be released without due judicial process being followed, and that the protesters should return home.

The protests have compounded pressure on the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan as it grapples with a chronic financial crisis and spiralling inflation that has squeezed household incomes hard.

The government previously agreed to have parliament vote on kicking out the French ambassador but backtracked, saying to take such action would isolate Pakistan internationally.

In the latest protest, a march from Lahore to Islamabad along Pakistan's busiest highway, TLP militants repeatedly clashed with police, paralysing traffic as they threatened to blockade Islamabad if their demands were not met.