Punjab police disappointed over Pak government’s weak-kneed response to TLP fundamentalists

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The Pakistani police in Punjab province feels that the government has let them down by agreeing to release hundreds of workers of the fundamentalist Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). The government also plans to withdraw cases against the others.</p>
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<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1654006">Pakistani newspaper <em>Dawn </em></a>quotes police sources as saying that the law enforcers have sacrificed lives and have been wounded in the protests by TLP members seeking the expulsion of the French ambassador over the Prophet's cartoons and the release of their imprisoned leader Saad Rizvi.<br />
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<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/world-news/after-deaths-during-clashes-pakistan-opts-for-negotiations-with-hardline-islamists-123426.html">In protests last week</a> the TLP attacked the police with petrol bombs, pelted stones and set their vehicles on fire. At least three policemen were dead and many injured, along with seven radicals, in the violence.<br />
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The TLP members also fired in the air and stole valuables from the people.<br />
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The <em>Dawn </em>quoted a deputy inspector general-rank officer as saying: “The government would have to stand with either the law enforcers or the TLP. Its decision to release hundreds of TLP men under an immediate agreement has ignored the sacrifices policemen rendered and lives they lost during violent agitation of the organisation."<br />
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He was referring to a statement by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid that the government had released 350 TLP workers. The minister also promised to review the names of the banned leaders with plans to withdraw cases lodged against them from the previous protest, which too had turned violent and lasted many days.<br />
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In this round of violence by the TLP, the government filed cases against the protestors in Lahore–which became the site of a major law and order issue.<br />
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The cases lodged against the TLP workers and their leadership are serious. These include FIRs under the anti-terrorism act, murder, attempted murder, kidnap and other heinous charges. The cases cover damage to public property as well.<br />
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The cases have been lodged against 75 top leaders of the TLP which include the leaders in the other provinces–Karachi, Balochistan, north and south Punjab.<br />
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Besides the policemen who have filed cases, common people and transporters also lodged cases against the fundamentalists for snatching their vehicles.</p>
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