Imran Khan govt's 'bad decisions' allowed TLP to garner more importance: Pak newspaper
Apr 22, 2021
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 22 : The Pakistan government's "bad decision-making and weak management" have allowed now proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to garner more importance and heft than it deserves, said Pakistani newspaper Dawn.
In an editorial, Dawn noted that the TLP affair should have been handled better and it is fairly obvious now that the Imran Khan-led government has run circles around itself while attempting to get a grip on the situation.
The Imran Khan-led PTI government on Tuesday agreed to move a resolution in the National Assembly for the removal of the French Ambassador from the country.
"This becomes even more obvious when the resolution is contrasted with the speech that Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered on Monday in a bid to explain his strategy. The crux of his argument was reasonable. He said that no Muslim would ever compromise on the finality of Prophethood, but this did not mean that one party should be allowed to monopolise the issue," the editorial read.
Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Tuesday announced that the government has reached an agreement with the TLP to move the resolution.
The Punjab government has released 734 out of total 5,500 supporters, workers, activists and leaders of the TLP who were arrested/detained from all over Punjab.
TLP Pakistan is a hardline religious group with a massive following across Pakistan. Recently, clashes broke out between TLP supporters and law enforcers.
Pakistan has been witnessing large-scale violence for the past one week in which several people have been killed and many others injured after the TLP announced a nationwide protest against the government's inability to expel the French Ambassador.
On Sunday, the city of Lahore became a battleground as workers of the recently banned party and policemen clashed. TLP workers also took 11 policemen hostage, who were later released after the first round of talks with the government.
Dawn said that from the start of the TLP protests, the government has made one mistake after another.
"The initial agreement with the TLP, in which the government had agreed in writing to the main demand of the right-wing outfit, was a major blunder. No government commits itself in writing to such demands from a pressure group without having to suffer the consequences," it said.
"It is now important that the government brings transparency to all its dealings with the TLP including sharing what has been negotiated and agreed upon in letter and spirit. By its bad decision-making and weak management, the government has allowed the TLP to garner more importance and heft than it deserves," it added.
