Where is TLP cleric who hurled threat?

ISLAMABAD: Taking media reports as a guide, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) leader, who issued a death threat to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, has been arrested. In reality, he has not been. The police are still struggling to nab him.

An official privy to the efforts said Pir Zaheerul Hassan Shah has fled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since late Monday when the government denounced his act and announced its intention to proceed against him. “We have zeroed in on the cleric. We are not far from getting a hand on him,” said an official but refused to provide further details.

Shah, a resident of Sheikhupura, had announced a head-money of Rs10 million on Qazi Faez Isa in reaction to a decision of a three-member bench in the Mubarak Sani case. A source said police and intelligence agencies are collaborating in their hunt for the wanted cleric. Raids have been conducted to pick close relatives of Shah in order to build pressure on him but he himself is at large. His two sons are also in hiding.

Even the TLP Shura wanted him arrested. At least, the Shura has conveyed this to the law enforcement officials but Shah appears reluctant. Even on Wednesday, the Shura had committed to producing him but it couldn’t. While Shah evades arrest, another cleric, Maulana Muhammad Tahir Saifi, was arrested late Monday. It was probably his arrest from Okara which the media mistook as Shah’s. Saifi had also hurled threats taking cues from Shah, who was his main source of inspiration.

Saifi was presented before an anti-terrorism court in Lahore late Tuesday and was remanded into police custody for seven days. The video of his speech was also played in the court premises and he confirmed that it was his video. The charges against him include sections of anti-terrorism act, incitement of religious hatred, causing public disorder, intimidation of the judiciary and obstruction of legal functions.