Daily Times

The federal government on Sunday issued a notification to announce the revocation of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s proscribed status.

The government accorded approval to the Ministry of Interior’s summary asking for TLP’s removal from the First Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

“The provincial cabinet has considered the request of the organisation and in view of the assurance and commitment by the organisation, is of the opinion that the said organisation shall abide by the Constitution and laws of the country and therefore, keeping in view the larger national interest and long term perspective to ensure that such incidents do not recur in future, the government of Punjab has proposed to the federal government to consider revoking of proscription of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan,” a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior states.

The notice goes on to state that “in exercise of the powers conferred under sub-section (1) of Section 11U of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (as amended), the federal government is pleased to remove the name of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan from the First Schedule of the said Act as a proscribed organisation for the purposes of the said Act”.

It added the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan was placed in the First Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (as amended) as a proscribed organization for the purpose of the said act, by the federal government under Section 11B (1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (as amended) vide Ministry of Interior’s notification dated April 15, 2021, on the recommendation of Home Department, Government of Punjab.

Earlier, after granting preliminary approval to the summary, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had sent it to the federal cabinet to take a final decision regarding the matter through circulation. The federal cabinet approved the summary through circulation. However, sources said some of the federal ministers refused to sign the TLP summary through circulation as they wanted the issue to be debated in the cabinet meeting.

According to the Rules of Business, 1973, approval by circulation means that a summary is sent to federal ministers for their opinion. The ministers’ recommendations are then sent to the prime minister after a stipulated period of time for further decisions on the matter. If a minister fails to respond within the stipulated time period, it is assumed that they have approved the recommendations made in the summary.

While some 2,100 TLP activists have been released from police custody after the federal government-TLP agreement, the revocation of the group’s proscribed status will automatically remove around 8,000 TLP activists from the Fourth Schedule – a list on which suspects of terrorism and sectarianism are placed under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Last week, the Punjab government jhad transferred the entire police high command of Lahore in a massive reshuffle in the wake of their “mishandling of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s violent rally”. Several regional police officers (RPOs) and district police officers (DPOs) were also reshuffled in Punjab.