Punjab govt links Saad Rizvi's release with federal review board's decision

LAHORE: Punjab government has linked the release of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Rizvi with the decision of the federal review board, ARY NEWS reported.

The decision was taken during a law and order meeting headed by Punjab law minister Raja Basharat. The meeting decided to link the release of the TLP chief with the decision of the review board.

The interior ministry had previously decided to withdraw over 40 cases against Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) leader Saad Rizvi and others in going forward with the agreement the government hammered out with the party.

The cases against the party whose sentences are upto three-year or more will be repealed by the government, the sources inside the ministry told.

But the concession is not limited to those 40 cases only, which only marks the first phase of the agreement the government hammered out with TLP. The sources have added that in the second phase, cases with sentences of up to five years will also be revoked and that the government of Punjab has already begun taking steps to that effect.

The government also implemented another point of an agreement reached with Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) as it removed the name of the organisation’s chief Saad Rizvi from the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

His name was removed from the Fourth Schedule – a list on which suspects of terrorism are put under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 – on the recommendation of the District Intelligence Committee, Lahore.

The Punjab Home Department has issued a notification to this effect. Saad Rizvi’s name was placed in the Fourth Schedule on April 16, 2021.