ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior ministry on Friday notified a ban on the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religiopolitical party, declaring it a proscribed organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The development came a day after the federal cabinet unanimously approved a summary to ban the party following violent clashes between TLP supporters and law enforcement personnel, mainly in the country’s most populous Punjab province, earlier this month. The party said its march toward Islamabad was for peaceful purposes and was intended to culminate in a sit-in outside the US Embassy in Islamabad to demonstrate solidarity with Gaza.
The Punjab government announced last Friday it had formally approved a recommendation to ban the TLP and sent it to the federal government for final enforcement. Punjab’s move came days thousands of TLP supporters clashed with police on the outskirts of Lahore on their way to Islamabad. The clashes killed five people, including two policemen, and injured more than 100 cops and dozens of protesters.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over a meeting of the federal cabinet in which the interior ministry had submitted the summary to ban the TLP on behalf of the Punjab government, according to Sharif’s office. Senior Punjab government officials took part in the cabinet meeting, which was briefed on the “violent and terrorist” activities of the TLP across the country.
