LAHORE: Outlawed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Hussain Rizvi was released on Tuesday afternoon from Kot Lakhpat Jail after negotiations with PTI-led federal government.
According to sources, Saad Rizvi will soon address the participants of a sit-in outside Lahore’s Rehmat ul Aalimeen mosque. TLP earlier announced to end their protests across the country after hours-long negotiations on Monday night.
The negotiations were held on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan by a team of government officials, led by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, and Law Minister Raja Basharat.
The TLP has put forth four demands: the expulsion of the French ambassador, the release of party chief Saad Rizvi, the removal of the ban on the party and the release of activists arrested as well as the FIRs against them to be revoked.
According to sources, the government delegation accepted all the demands but refused to deport the French ambassador and remove Sheikh Rashid from the post of interior minister.
After the third round of talks, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid announced that the government will present a resolution on the expulsion of the French ambassador in the National Assembly later today.
Rashid said that the TLP had agreed to call off protests across the country. “Talks with the party will continue,” he said. The minister said that cases registered against TLP workers under the Fourth Schedule will also be withdrawn.
