Saad Rizvi, chief of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), on October 28 joined the negotiations between the group and the Government, reports Samaa TV. Saad, who has been incarcerated at the Kot Lakhpat prison, was brought to an undisclosed location to take part in the negotiations, a TLP spokesperson claimed. Another round, the fourth to be exact, of negotiations between the TLP and Government have begun in Islamabad, another party spokesperson revealed. “Our primary demand from the first day has been the expulsion of the French ambassador,” a TLP spokesperson said. “The government has always used power to snatch our constitutional and legal rights. Protests are the beauty of democracy.”
Meanwhile, the protesters reached Chanda Qila, a few kilometers from Gujranwala in Punjab. To stop them, a number of trucks and containers have been parked on the Sarai Alamgir GT Road. The Chenab Bridge in Gujarat has been completely closed for traffic, while all routes from Gujarat to Lahore have been closed.
Punjab’s Home Department on October 28 deployed the paramilitary Rangers in eight Districts of the province, reports Daily Times. The Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) were deployed for two months in Punjab, sources at the provincial home department said. Rangers personnel have been posted in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Gujrat and Faisalabad Districts.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf on October 28 said the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had crossed the red line and exhausted the state’s patience and it should be mindful of the fact that there would be “No armed militias of any sort in our country”, reports Daily Times. Dr Moeed clarified that for all individuals and groups who think they could challenge the writ of the Pakistani state, “do not test the proposition.” “As the basic principle of national security, the state will never shy away from protecting each and every citizen from any form of violence,” he underscored. The NSA said that the proscribed organisation’s protestors had martyred policemen, destroyed public property, and continued to cause massive public disruption. He warned that law would take its course for each one of them adding, “and terrorists will be treated like terrorists with no leniency.”