LAHORE, Oct 9: The government has assured the Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan leaders that it will facilitate them in their protest against the killing of party chief Maulana Azam Tariq.

However, the officials made it clear that the cooperation will be extended in case they reciprocate the move.

The Maulana was shot dead along with his guards at Golra toll collection post, Islamabad, on Monday.

Sources in the MIP say several high-ranking officials, including Punjab Home Secretary Brig Ijaz Shah and many district Nazims, have assured their cooperation in the protests on the condition that the party also cooperates with the government.

“We realise that you have every right to protest the assassination of your chief,” the sources quoted the officials as saying. They would not elaborate the kind of cooperation.

It implies that the government will at least exempt the MIP from section 144 the chief minister has sought to be imposed across the province to avert any backlash in the wake of Islamabad killings.

The MIP workers will hold protest demonstrations in each town of the province while big shows will be organized at divisional headquarters level on Friday (today), said party’s high command, which added that all these events would be peaceful.

However, they warned the government that the situation might take an ugly turn, if the people nominated in the Islamabad killings case were not arrested soon.

Reports suggest that Islami Tehrik chief Allama Sajid Naqvi, former MNA from Jhang Amanullah Sial and a high-ranking official of Iranian embassy in Islamabad are among the nominees in the FIR.

In Lahore, the MIP had agreed to the administration’s request of changing the venue of the protest demonstration from the Masjid-i-Shuhada on The Mall to the Nila Gumbad mosque.

It did not agree to the administration’s suggestion that it should be a silent show, which should be finished within half an hour after Friday prayers.

Maulana Shamsur Rahman and Maulana Mujeebur Rahman Inqilabi will speak on the occasion.

Believing that some specific sect may be involved in the murder, the MIP leaders are at a loss to understand why the guards at toll post, hardly 10 yards away from the site, or the police at a check post on the other side of the road, did not try to check and chase the assailants reportedly riding in three vehicles.

The Maulana had been targeted because he had prevented a bid (of a sect) to exclude the names of some eminent personalities from Islamic history textbooks, they alleged.

They said some MPs belonging to this sect held a meeting in northern areas about two and a half months ago and handed over a document in this regard to the federal education minister. The late MIP leader, they said, somehow got a copy of the document and successfully used his influence in the government to thwart the attempt.

Later, the MPs again met a couple of weeks ago only to point out that MNA Azam Tariq was the main hurdle in accomplishing their task, the party sources alleged.