Minister of State for Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry on Tuesday said that the government has decided to take a firm stance against Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and action against the protesters will be taken in a similar manner as on May 9.
talking to Geographic news In the ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ programme, the State Minister said that since the formation of the current administration under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the TLP has attempted to march on Islamabad twice.
“In each march the government signed agreements with them, many of the terms were not favorable to the State,” he stated.
However, he added, the State has adopted a decisive stance.
“We have to move forward and learn from the mistakes of the past. We will no longer be blackmailed. Those who bring extremism and violence into politics, be it May 9, November 26 or TLP dharnas, will not be tolerated. Action against them will be similar to what was taken after May 9,” he said, referring to the 2023 protests following Imran Khan’s arrest.
The minister maintained that the State had exhausted all peaceful options before acting against the group.
“They say no dialogue took place, but secret channels were opened. One of Pakistan’s top political and religious leaders was involved in those talks; they also embarrassed him. Even when they stayed for two days, they were given a way to leave peacefully, and the women and children who had been arrested were released.”
Rejecting claims that the protests were about Gaza or Palestine, he called the TLP’s actual demands “shocking.”
“They wanted money, demanded government jobs for their clerics and asked for the release of their members convicted in criminal cases,” he said.
He accused the group of emotionally exploiting religious sentiments and trying to weaken the state at a time when Pakistan was “fighting on both its eastern and western borders.”
“Even when Afghanistan attacked, they didn’t call off their sit-in,” he said.
Responding to reports that he had received more than 1,700 online threats, Chaudhry said state institutions were taking legal action.
“Cybercrime, the FIA and the police are all active. Some 2,800 people have been banned from travelling,” he said, warning that fake news was again being spread similar to the events of November 26.
Talal also mentioned that a large number of TLP members had been deported from Saudi Arabia for misconduct. “They are ruining the name of both the country and the religion abroad,” he said.
Law enforcement launched a wide-ranging pre-dawn operation on Monday to dismantle the religious party’s protest camp in Muridke, leading to violent clashes, widespread chaos and dozens of arrests.
The operation, which began around 3.30am, quickly became one of the most serious clashes between police and the TLP in recent months, lasting almost six hours.
According to officials, about 1,500 police in full riot gear, supported by four armored personnel carriers and water cannons, surrounded the protest camp along GT Road.
In the morning, authorities said they had detained hundreds of protesters, although exact numbers were still unclear.
