Terrorism charge on cleric who opposed freedom for Asia Bibi
ISLAMABAD:A firebrand Pakistani cleric who led protests against the acquittal of a Christian woman over blasphemy will be tried on charges of terrorism and sedition.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi and other leaders of the Tehreek-iLabbaik Pakistan (TLP) will be tried in special anti-terrorism courts for anti-state speeches and inciting violence during their three-day protest against the Supreme Court’s verdict on Asia Bibi. The TLP leaders had attacked both the Imran Khan government and the military leadership. They had also threatened the chief justice and judges of the top court for the verdict.
Cases had already been registered in various police stations of Punjab against four TLP leaders, including Rizvi, and they would soon be produced in court after their formal arrests, information minister Fawad Chaudhry said.
The TLP activists who had damaged public and private properties on motorways, highways and in different parts of the country would be tried on terrorism charges, he said. At present 2,899 TLP men are under protective custody in Punjab, 139 in Sindh and 126 in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the minister said.
TLP office-bearers Rizvi and Pir Afzal Qadri were booked under treason and terror charges at police stations in Lahore and Gujrat respectively, while Inayatul Haq Shah and Hafiz Faroo- qul Hassan were booked under similar charges in Rawalpindi.
Chaudhry said the TLP activists damaged state and private properties, including vehicles, causing a Rs50 million loss. He regretted that the TLP workers targeted women and children and used abusive language against state institutions.
Chaudhry said the government had also consulted the opposition parties over its decision to try the TLP leaders on sedition and terrorism charges. He said they had bitterness with the opposition on a number of issues, but they were together if an issue was related to the state.
On an agreement that the government had signed with the TLP leaders in order to persuade them to end their protest, he said, “It was written in the agreement that no one would challenge the Constitution and take law into their own hands. But they (TLP activists) did not implement it. It takes two to tango.”