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LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Senator Ejaz Chaudhry on Saturday met Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Hussain Rizvi with a TLP spokesperson saying that “doors never close in politics”.
TLP spokesperson Ibn-e-Ismail confirmed the meeting held at the Rehmatul Lil Alameen Mosque in Lahore, saying that the senator presented a bouquet of flowers to Rizvi, and also visited the grave of his father, Khadim Hussain Rizvi.
Meanwhile, talking to the media, Chaudhry said that he met the TLP chief as per his promise. “It is our responsibility to be in contact with the leadership that has a different past than the leadership of other political parties,” he added.
The PTI Punjab president further said it was the state’s responsibility to have pleasant relations with all factions of the public to avoid misunderstandings and ensure consensus, peace and calm.
“You will remember that when the agreement between the government and the TLP was reached, I had expressed satisfaction and prayed and wished that it got safely implemented,” he said, adding, “You saw it was implemented and today I was here to meet him.”
In response to a journalist’s question whether he had visited Rizvi after seeking permission from Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said he “never meets” anyone without the premier’s nod. Responding to another question, he said it was too early to say whether the prime minister would hold a meeting with the TLP chief.
Rizvi was released on Thursday from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail after the withdrawal of a reference filed in the Supreme Court’s federal review board regarding his detention and the removal of his name from the Fourth Schedule last week.
The TLP and the federal government reached an agreement on October 31 after many rounds of talks and two weeks of clashes which left seven policemen and scores of TLP workers dead. The agreement was kept secret, and it still is, but leaked information suggested consensus on removing the party from the list of the proscribed organisations, Rizvi’s release and setting TLP workers free.