Ticket holders and office bearers of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) from central Punjab and Lahore on Tuesday announced that they were severing ties with the now-banned organisation, stating that they were “standing with the state”.
On Friday, all election ticket holders of the TLP from south Punjab announced that they had left the party, accusing it of pursuing an anti-state agenda that “aligns with the country’s enemies”.
In a press conference at the Lahore Press Club, multiple TLP ticket holders and office bearers announced their decision to step away from the religiopolitical group, with lawyer Usman Khizr Mangat saying that one can engage in politics within the state, but not against it.
“Violence and mobs cannot create an impact by attacking the state,” he said. “Pakistan saw how these people carried out attacks. The government tried to start a dialogue, but the demands laid out were not accepted.
“The state is like a mother, it tried to negotiate for six, seven days constantly with these people (the TLP) and outlined Pakistan’s situation and its standing in the international community.”
Mangat noted that the unrest took place at a time when the country is “on red alert because of India in the east and Afghanistan in the northwest”.
“You saw that buses were stolen, people were armed and school buses carrying girls were hijacked. What kind of politics is this?” he questioned.
“Other parties protest under the Constitution and the law; they have the right to freedom of movement and freedom of speech, but you cannot exercise those rights at the cost of causing unrest within the state.”
Mangat added that the TLP “always thought themselves above the Constitution, the law and the state”, adding that this attitude could not be tolerated in any case.
“I, Barrister Usman Khizer Mangat, along with these ticket holders and officer bearers of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, announce the end of our time with the TLP,” he stated.
“I am here to show my solidarity with the state,” Mangat added. “I stand with my state under any circumstance; it is my state and my state has been established. If my politics compromises my state’s stability and security, it is better I do not engage in politics.
“I am making it very clear that I am not under any pressure. With my free will, I am announcing that I am standing alongside the state.”