TLP to field candidates across country in next polls, says Saad Rizvi

LAHORE: Chief of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi has vowed that his party would contest against all parties and field candidates across the country in the upcoming polls.

In a statement issued on Friday night, Saad Rizvi asserted that his party was ready for the next elections, whether they take place in 2023 or earlier. “People who had claimed they would not take loans and bring back the country’s looted wealth are begging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a grant now,” he added.

Rizvi said TLP would live up to the nation’s expectations, as he called on the masses to back his party in the next elections. “The government and Opposition are busy chasing their own objectives. Personal enmity and mudslinging have not allowed the country to move forward,” he added.

He said his followers had shown the world that they would not step back and their mothers had not given birth to cowards. He said all his comrades and followers stood for the respect and dignity of Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) as the nation trusted them to protect the finality of his prophethood.

Rizvi went on to tell the audience that they should continue their struggle. “People who don’t have an ideology are useless and it would be like saying a nuclear bomb possessed by a weak nation would be of no use,” he added.

Hafiz Rizvi was released from Kot Lakhpat jail on Nov 18 after an agreement with the government. The two sides reached an understanding after many rounds of talks and two weeks of clashes which left seven policemen and an unspecified number of TLP workers dead.

However, the contents of the deal are still not known. Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on November 13 said that details of the agreement would be revealed “within 10 days”.

A day earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) delegation, headed by MNA Imran Ahmad Shah Wali, called on TLP chief Saad Rizvi Friday. A TLP spokesperson confirmed the meeting, saying that the PML-N delegation congratulated Saad Rizvi over his release from prison.