Unravelling of the secret deal

EDITORIAL: The October 31 secret agreement the government signed with the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) as its workers staged violent protests that left seven members (latest figure) of the police force dead and hundreds of others injured, has started to unravel. The ban on the outfit imposed under the Anti-Terrorism Act after similar incidents of violence last April has been lifted. An interior ministry notification issued to that effect on Sunday stated that “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 the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan from the First Schedule of the said act as proscribed organisation for the purpose of the said act.” This allows the violent outfit to function as a normal political party. Scores of its activists have already been removed from the Fourth Schedule, and hundreds of others arrested for involvement in attacks on the police and destruction of properties have been released. Their leader Saad Rizvi is also to walk free. All this is supposed to be “in the larger national interest.” That it is not by any stretch of imagination.

The notification says that “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, thereof, keeping in view the larger national interest and long-term perspective to ensure that such incidents do no recur in future, the government of Punjab has proposed to the federal government to consider revoking of the proscription of the TLP.” That raises some important concerns. First of all, therein is an acknowledgement that the TLP had been violating the Constitution and the law of the land, in which case it does not qualify to be permitted to function as a ‘normal’ political party. A related question is that what makes the government so sure the TLP would abide by that undertaking? According to those privy to the secret agreement, six people have been named as its “guarantors” — all of them little known except for Mufti Munibur Rehman and Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, a leading Karachi-based businessman. These individuals have no standing in the present context. When it comes to the furtherance of its agenda the TLP has repeatedly demonstrated that it can go to any lengths to challenge the writ of the state by exploiting sensitive religious issues to rile up its base, killing law enforcers and destroying public and private property. During an earlier ‘protest’, it even issued a call for the assassination of judges of the apex court and the prime minister for upholding the rule of law in a false blasphemy case. Now seven members of the police force have lost their lives at the hands of TLP activists. As pointed out by the respected legal expert, Aitzaz Ahsan, the government does not have the authority to forgive their murderers. Yet all its crimes get indemnified.

Considering that the TLP had challenged the writ of the state using violent tactics, it was not an ordinary law and order situation but a national security issue. The place to resolve it was Parliament. But for some inexplicable reasons the government chose to bypass the highest national forum to strike a secret agreement with a violent private group. Sadly, this has happened under Prime Minister Imran Khan who lays a lot of emphasis on the need to establish rule of law and transparency in government functioning.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021