Pakistan conflict: Govt-TLP accord ‘upsets’ police high-ups in Punjab

Some senior officials said the decision of the government not only demoralised the police force but also gave a message to such groups that “the state may withdraw any step any time on any pressure”, reports Dawn News.

The police officers warned that the release of hundreds of activists of the proscribed TLP [without punishment] would be disastrous for the personnel who took part in the operation, the newspaper reported.

Commenting on the issue, police officers alleged that the accord “disgraced” the sacrifices of the force which has always been used as ‘scapegoat.’

“The police force is first launched and then abused”, one of the senior police officers commented as quoted by Dawn News without mincing words while talking to this reporter in the wake of the TLP-government agreement.

The Pakistan government has decided not to lift the ban on the Tahreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), the radical Islamist group responsible for recent violent protests. The government, however, was of the view that the group should approach the court for delisting.

The group, however, on Tuesday called off protests following an agreement with the government where the latter presented a resolution in parliament on the expulsion of the French envoy from the country, Dawn reported.

On the same day, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of his party where he has reportedly made it clear that the group would remain banned. Dawn reported, citing sources, that the government feared backlash from the European Union in case the government moves forward with the expulsion of the French envoy as demanded by the TLP.

“If Pakistan expelled the French ambassador, there might be a strong reaction from the European Union (EU) and Pakistan’s 27 ambassadors in western countries could be repatriated,” Dawn reported Khan as saying through sources.

Khan has reportedly said in the meeting that the Western countries would not come under any pressure unless all Muslim countries jointly condemned the act of blasphemy and made the West realize that it was not the issue of “freedom of speech”.