TLP No More A Banned Outfit, Interior Ministry Notifies

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: The federal interior ministry has Sunday finally issued the pending notification to revoke the proscription of Tehreek e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after the cabinet division okayed the summary of recommendations put to it by the federal law ministry.

The official notification followed the approval by the cabinet of the federal ministers that after some deliberations gave the development the final nod. The federal law ministry had recommended the revocation in its summary days after the government and then banned TLP reached an agreement following the siege of parts of Pakistan.

Earlier today, the federal cabinet division approved the bid to legitimize TLP and to allow it to operate as a political force, the status it once enjoyed. The unbanning was awaiting formal notification from the ministry of interior which it has now obtained.

The federal cabinet nodded to the summary it had received yesterday by the federal law ministry that recommended the decriminalizing of proscribed TLP.

It was expected that the pending interior ministry notification would roll out no later than tonight, despite the office’s holiday, the officials in the ministry have said.

Earlier yesterday, some key federal ministers have demanded an open debate over lifting the ban on the proscribed group. The ministers have suggested a discussion over the issue in the upcoming session of the federal cabinet, according to sources.

Some federal ministers have yet to sign on the summary to un-ban the group, sources had said.

At least 14 ministers’ signatures were required for approval of the summary.

It was yesterday that the summary by the Punjab government to unban proscribed TLP had reached the interior ministry official, to later be conveyed to the cabinet division as a final formality for the revival of the hardline religious party that had besieged parts of Pakistan of late.