• Punjab police chief says four cops martyred, 263 injured in clashes
• Rangers deployed to maintain law, order in province for two months
A DAY after a meeting of the country’s civil and military leadership, the government on Wednesday decided to crush the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) by all means and resolved that army, Rangers and police would stop participants of its long march from entering the federal capital.
The decision was taken by the federal cabinet in its meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan following which Rangers were requisitioned in Punjab for 60 days to maintain law and order in the province.
The government categorically announced that it could not meet the
TLP’s demand of closing down the French embassy in Pakistan and revealed that there was no French ambassador in the country.
“The cabinet has decided to treat TLP as a militant organisation and it will be crushed as other such groups have been eliminated. Pakistani state has defeated major terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said at a post-cabinet meeting press conference, adding that the TLP did not have the status and the quantum of arms the other organisations had.
“Yesterday PM chaired a meeting which was attended by the military leadership and representatives of intelligence agencies and relevant authorities. It was decided that the TLP would no more be dealt as a political party but as a militant organisation and it would not be tolerated anymore,” he said.
The minister said the government had evidence that the TLP was being funded by some groups in India which also maligned Pakistan through social media. “Therefore the cabinet also decided to launch a crackdown through the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority against those spreading “fake news”, adding that some journalists were also using social media for propaganda.
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