Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed declared on Wednesday that the government has decided to deploy the Punjab Rangers to ensure peace as Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) continued its protests.
“We have decided to summon the Rangers for a period of 60 days to maintain law and order situation in the province,” stated Rasheed. He said, “Like Karachi, Rangers have been called in Punjab under Section 4 (2) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, read with Article 147 of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, the federal government has decided to treat the banned TLP as a militant organization.
The federal cabinet met in Islamabad with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair. Briefing media on the cabinet decision, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, said every individual had the right to have his own particular belief, however, no one would be allowed to blackmail the state and challenge its writ.
The state and the government have so far demonstrated utmost restraint and avoided the use of force against the violent protesters of banned TLP, he remarked.
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the banned TLP was not a political organization, but it was a militant group. He said the banned TLP activists had martyred six police officials and injured over 700 people earlier and, this time, they martyred three more policemen and injured 49 others.
It is now the responsibility of all the institutions to treat TLP as a militant outfit, he concluded.
