LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: As the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Thursday terminated the Faizabad agreement and asked its workers to block highways throughout the country, the activists blocked all entry and exit points of Lahore and staged sit-ins in Rawalpindi and other cities of Punjab.

They also tried to stage sit-ins in Islamabad but police foiled their attempts and arrested dozens of TLP workers.

By the time this report was filed, many major cities of Punjab — including Sialkot, Sahiwal, Gujranwala, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Chunia, Multan, Faisalabad and Muzaffargarh — were cut off from the rest of the country.

Punjab government says court orders put a question mark over legality of Faizabad agreement and declared TLP leaders proclaimed offenders

The Punjab police, while calling additional force from adjoining areas, were reluctant to use force. “The first priority remains a peaceful resolution,” said a senior police officer of Lahore. “Even if force is used as a last resort, it would be done with utmost restraint and be kept to the minimum,” he said. “Negotiations are still under way for the peaceful resolution.”

Talking to Dawn, TLP spokesman Pir Zubair Ahmad said his party was open to talks and no offer in this regard would be refused.

Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmad Khan said the government had accepted all demands of the TLP. All FIRs — be it for violence or damage to official and private property — against the TLP workers would be withdrawn as envisaged in the Faizabad agreement. The Raja Zafarul Haq-led committee’s report would be made public and all other steps, stipulated in the agreement, would be taken.

However, he said, “the only sticking point is court orders which have put legality of the agreement under question and declared TLP leaders proclaimed offenders. This area would require directives from the court and the government would take up the matter with the court. The rest has been agreed upon and the ball is now in the court of the TLP.”

The TLP Shura was meeting at the main sit-in site to discuss the Punjab government offer and decide future course of action by 10.30pm, when this report was filed.

The TLP deadline to implement the controversial Faizabad agreement, which included provisions like release of arrested workers and withdrawal of cases against them registered during the November 2017 sit-in at the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, expired on Thursday afternoon.

Addressing a press conference, which triggered the province-wide blockades, TLP leader Pir Afzal Qadri asked the workers to take to the streets and block all national highways. Within a few hours, most of the cities of Punjab, including its capital Lahore, were cut off from each other, with people stranded on the highways for hours.

Lahore faced the major brunt as all four exit and entry points of the city were blocked by stick-yielding TLP workers who deflated tyres of vehicles and parked them on the roads.

Soon major arteries of the city were also closed, spelling disaster for the city life and leaving people on the roads for hours.

In Islamabad, dozens of local leaders and activists of the TLP were arrested when they were staging protest in different areas of the city.

According to police, dozens of TLP activists gathered at T-Cross Rawat, Bharakhu and Tarnol but police swing into action and dispersed them.

Police faced resistance from the protesters at the three spots. After using force against them, police removed protesters from there and arrested those who offered resistance.

In parts of Rawalpindi, life remained paralysed due to TLP sit-ins at Liaquat Bagh, Faizabad and some other areas as commuters remained stuck in traffic mess for hours.

Roads were also blocked in Gujar Khan, Dina and Taxila by the TLP activists. Hundreds of commuters were stuck in traffic jam on G.T. Road.

Mohammad Asghar and Aamir Yasin from Rawalpindi also contributed to this report.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2018