Govt, proscribed TLP resume talks over three-point agenda

LAHORE: A new phase of talks between proscribed TLP and the government’s teams resumed again after the earlier phase ended in failure, quoting sources ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to sources, the government is being represented in the talks by Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri.

Chief of proscribed group TLP, Saad Rizvi also participating in the talks having a three point agenda, sources said.

The first point of the agenda is release of Saad Rizvi from imprisonment, while the second point is withdrawal of cases against the workers of the proscribed group.
The talks agenda also having a point with regard to presenting a resolution against France in the Parliament, according to sources. “The government, however, declined to accept it,” sources said.

The government in its terms said that the cases of TLP workers, booked in terrorism charges, will be decided by courts.

“The protesters would have to be withdrawn from the G.T. Road and other main highways before release of the TLP chief from jail”, the government said in its conditions.

Earlier, Punjab government today deployed paramilitary Rangers in eight districts of the province.

The rangers force has been deployed for 60 days in the province, sources at the provincial home department said.

Rangers personnel have been posted in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Gujrat and Faisalabad districts, according to sources.