PPP for making details of govt-TLP pact public

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party on Monday demanded the government to make public the details of the agreement made with banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

“The people of Pakistan have a right to know the details because this is not a matter in which the security of the State is involved, but such an agreement will have an effect on the rights and lives of an ordinary Pakistani,” said former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani while demanding the government to make public the agreement with the TLP.

Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani said the cessation of violence to further a political agenda by the TLP is welcomed, however, it is strange that the government has agreed on an agreement with a group of citizens.

He said when an individual acts as a guarantor between the government and its citizens, it depicts that the government has lost the moral high grounds and the confidence of the people. Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said such a government cannot enforce the writ of the State and perform its duties towards its citizens in terms of the Constitution, 1973, for protecting their lives, liberty and property.

Vice President PPP Senator Sherry Rehman also asked the government to unveil the details of the agreement made with the TLP. “What is the agreement that will be revealed at an "appropriate time?” she questioned.

She said failure to disclose the agreement raises many questions, the government should inform the people about the terms of the agreement. “On what basis was the government stands guarantor for the banned organization as the court has the power to terminate the status quo and prosecute an individual,” she said.

Sherry Rehman said, "After bowing to the banned organization, the Prime Minister and the government have taken a U-turn from their earlier statements." PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Kokhar also demanded that government must make the agreement public and inform the parliament as the nation want to know how the agreement was signed in the dark of the night. “The citizens have a right to know what has been agreed with a banned organisation that paralysed the country, disrupted everyday life for 12 days. The protesters martyred innocent policemen,” he said.

Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar asked if the sacrifices of Punjab Police personnel were in vain or if the culprits would be caught and punished. He said, "when the Hazara community was not burying their dead, Imran Khan said he would not be blackmailed, but here the entire state has surrendered." Mustafa Nawaz Kokhar said the history is witness that Pakistan suffered a great deal whenever the state had surrendered before such elements.