The new face of the banned Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), Saad Rizvi, has been in police custody since he instigated protests to pressure the government into expelling the French ambassador from Pakistan.
On his orders, his party workers took to the streets and wreaked havoc. The mayhem brought about by the charged crowd resulted in the killing of several police personnel as well as creating traffic gridlocks across many cities. Since his arrest, Saad Rizvi and his party have been taking a legal course. The TLP chief was supposed to be released on July 10 but another order by the deputy commissioner detained Rizvi for 90 days.
Now, the Lahore High Court has issued the order that it is illegal to hold Saad Hussain Rizvi and that he should be set free. However, the Punjab government has challenged this in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The reason provided by the provincial government is that intelligence reports state that there are people in the TLP who will stage sabotage activities as soon as their chief is released. This will, of course, become a nuisance for the law enforcement agencies and the government and therefore, keeping him detained is for the best.
The TLP is a far-right Islamic extremist political party that has been banned by the government since April of 2021. The way the party activists have exhibited their manners of protest, cannot be condoned and they, at some point or another, become a problem for the government. The scenes of the protest staged by the party after the arrest of their chief clearly indicates the party’s ability to turn violent if their demands are not met. Although, currently there is not an issue which may instigate violence, there are always chances of it arising. With the rise of Islamophobia in the world, there are likely to be actions in the world that will be unacceptable to this party and if they take to the streets in such a violent manner time and again there will only be chaos in the country.
However, the government cannot keep intervening in this matter therefore, it should let the legal machinery decide what is best according to the law. If there is no case against the man then he should be set free according to the court’s order. The government can keep a close eye on him after his release and decide the future course of action.
