Pakistan government has officially banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and owing to security threats, the French embassy has advised its citizens to leave Pakistan.
However, the ban on TLP will create a lacuna as the far-right party is part of the parliamentary system.
The party took around 2 million votes in the general elections 2018 which came as a surprise for everyone.
Cannot contest election
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) barred TLP candidates from taking part in Karachi’s NA-249 by-poll using party’s name or symbol.
Read Also
PPP, ANP Leave PDM Startled With Latest Cunning Moves
TLP had managed to take 23,981 votes from the constituency in the 2018 general elections.
Repercussions of ban
The political analysts have termed the ban on TLP as a ‘brave’ move by the incumbent government.
The previous governments had been reluctant to take decisive action against the religious party as the subject of its protests was ‘religiously sensitive’.
TLP had staged sit-ins four times. The last one was in 2017 where the workers encamped at Faizabad Interchange in Islamabad and disrupted traffic movement.
NCTA warns government
After the Faizabad sit-in 2017, National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA) had recommended banning TLP and monitoring its activities.
The authority had termed that the pact between the government and the religious political party would become a challenge for the state in the future.
It had also expressed doubts on the emergence of such groups and declared it threatening for society as a whole.
Courts’ verdicts
Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also termed the Faizabad protest as an anti-state measure and linked it with terrorism.
In the verdict of suo moto case against TLP’s Faizabad sit-in in 2019, Supreme Court (SC) Judge Qazi Faez Isa wrote that the protesters hurled threats and intimidated locals and TLP leaders spread hatred.
It read that Sheikh Rasheed and PTI’s clerical wing issued audio and video messages in favour of the protests to gain political advantage.
Justice Isa said that an overseas national identity card (NIC) holder registered TLP in the ECP.
The commission could have referred the matter to the federal government which had declared it as a foreign-funded party and issue a notification regarding it. Later, SC could have banned it on the basis of the notification.
In 2017, Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid had to step down after a nationwide anti-blasphemy protest against him by the far-right party.
The tempers had run high after the PML-N government amended the oath of elected representatives.
Recent protests
According to the report of the interior ministry, as many as 2,135 TLP workers have been booked from across the country.
As many as 1,669 of them were apprehended from Punjab, 228 from Sindh and rest from other parts of the country.
The arrest of TLP Chief Saad Rizvi in Lahore on unspecified charges had sparked countrywide protests.
Violent clashes between police and protesters were reported from Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, and several other smaller cities.
Meanwhile, the French embassy in Pakistan has advised its citizens to leave Pakistan over serious security threats.