Daily Times

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi has been taken into custody by the law enforcement agencies, a private TV channel reported on Friday.

A family member of Rizvi confirmed that the TLP chief has been taken into custody.”He was arrested from his hujra in Lahore,” Rizvi’s son, Saad, told a TV channel, adding that all district leaders of the TLP have been arrested along with his father.

When contacted, Punjab information and law ministers said they did not know about any such action being taken against Rizvi.

Rizvi had given a call to observe martyrs’ day on November 25, and had asked the party workers and supporters to gather at Faizabad on the day.

A crackdown is currently underway against TLP leaders in several major cities. At least 30 of the party’s workers have been arrested from various parts of the capital, the TV channel claimed.Around a 100 police personnel have also been deployed at Faizabad interchange, where the TLP had last year staged a 20-day-long sit-in.

At least 59 TLP leaders and workers have been picked up from Rawalpindi, and reports say raids are still being carried out to arrest more activists of the party.The district authorities in Rawalpindi have issued detainment orders for TLP divisional leader Inayatul Haq. The reports of his arrest come weeks after the TLP led three-day protests across the country against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman whose blasphemy conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court at the end of last month.

Published in Daily Times, November 24^th 2018.