Only 'negotiated' with army officials, not govt representatives: TLY chief Khadim Rizvi
Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi on Tuesday revealed that it was the army which ensured the government met the protesters' terms.
"We told them [the government] that we cannot talk to you," Rizvi told Samaa TV on Tuesday. "Then the army came in the middle and our companions met with army and ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] bigwigs, generals etc."
"They told us they will get all of our demands accepted," Rizvi said in a startling revelation that shed light on why the government seemed to have capitulated so completely to the protesters.
Rizvi said that his team never met the interior minister — whose signatures were present on the agreement — and it "must have been" the army leadership which got Iqbal to sign the document.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that the agreement that ended the Faizabad sit-in had not been desirable, but the government had been left with little choice in the matter.
"Document of finishing dharna was not desirable but there was little choice because if [the] situation had persisted [for] another 24 hrs there would be riots," Iqbal said in a tweet on Tuesday.
After the weeks-long protest, which virtually paralysed the capital and led to several people losing their lives, the government had finally bent its knee to the protesters on Monday after Zahid Hamid resigned from his post as federal law minister.
The minister's resignation came in the aftermath of Saturday’s botched operation against protesters at Faizabad and 'successful negotiations' with leaders of the demonstration late Sunday night, official sources and state broadcaster PTV said.
Six people were killed while hundreds were injured during the operation. The terms of the agreement included blanket immunity for all those arrested during the crackdown on the agitating protesters.
The agreement between the government and the protesters to end the sit-in has subsequently faced much criticism.
Most prominently, Islamabad High Court judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had on Monday lashed out at the government as well as the army for mediating the agreement.
"The army chief, instead of following the orders of the chief executive, became a mediator," Justice Siddiqui had pointed out as he sharply reprimanded the armed forces for straying out of their constitutional role.
"Who is the army to adopt a mediator's role?" inquired the judge. "Where does the law assign this role to a major general?"
Comments (51) Closed
Instrument of Surrender (2017).
It was a big surprise to see a handful of agitators become the nation wide force just in a blink. Obviously, it was a biggest ever intelligence failure.
Finally, Ahsan Iqbal has accepted government's incompetence and failure to resolve durnaha's issue. It was done unprofessionally and very casually.
Lame excuses for PML-N's weakness of leadership in handling this affair. They started this issue in the Parliament for their leaders wishes and then it all went out of their control.
So technically the government agrees that they gave legitimacy to all future agitation leading to deterioration of state powers because they themselves are powerless to control riots. Does our Interior Minister understand that by his statement he implied that the Government does not have the power to provide security to its citizens? Does that not mean that the government is not fulfilling its constitutional obligation to secure public order? Shouldnt the government now dissolve itself? I hope someone goes to court against the government make sure this does not happen again.
What is really amazing is the fact that the sit-in continued for over three weeks and yet the government was unable to do something to resolve the issue and appeared helpless about what to do? The message has been sent and it may be a matter of weeks or months before someone else repeat the same policy of holding hostages of the government and the public.
Very sorry state of affairs where the government has lost its writ and caved in to the extremists setting a dangerous precedent. I hope you will publish these comments.
It is a big mistake. I am surprise that the minister doesn't realize the grave consequences of this error in judgement. Look at the tone of the two individuals, Khadim speaks as if he is the government and the minister speaks as if he is the protester on the street.
It's all down hill from here on unless the wrong done is made right and the government goes back establishing the writ of the government.Can it be done? Yes it can be done, all the government have to do now is challenge the protesters again but this time be prepared.
very complicated game of real powers ! i simply fail to understand ! only time wil tell.
Pathetic show by Ahsan Iqbal. Surrendering the state's writ out of fear of riots is sheer cowardice. If he can't handle the heat, he shouldn't have taken the job. We need someone gutsy and tough.
My guess is that they accepted the deal to avoid a bigger problem. They see all kind of filth going on in Islamic world. Unfortunately our leaders and our religious leaders do not see it and if they see then they do not understand the magnitude of devastation.
Pakistan is staring into the black hole.
A very bad move or decision by the Govt. This is the beginning of the worst!
He is right but this is know as absolute failure. Hopeless situation. It’s seems like things are worst than what we know. And they still wants to cling to the power. Please leave and have mercy on the people of Pakistan
If the state of Pakistan is so weak as to give up to these rabble rousers, how can it defend itself from external enemies? It will go down as a really shameful chapter in the country's history.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal: The question is "why your govt wait so long to resolve the issue till the last day before riot may happen?. I guess you have NO answer as your govt is busy in looting the tax payers money but to provide relief to common people.
Good decision by the government. Credit goes to the PML-N government. There is no reason to fight when a peaceful solution could be reached.
This is what we call a failed state
What have we reached
Like always, there's only one that pulls the strings and runs the affairs indirectly.......a government within a government.
If this is true, then it is deeply troubling. The military’s involvement in the whole affair stands unmasked.
The argument cannot be from a strong and decisive Government. Point is, wether the demand agitators was right or not . If it was right, it should have been accepted before agitation turned “wild”, if the demand was not legitimate, Government should have taken firm stand. Government has given hardliners a stick wit a carrot in its own hand. They will now beat the Government to get the carrot.
Little choice?? No choice at all.
What a shame. This is taking Pakistan to a very dark place.
Truly a sad state of affairs. Dark day for Pakistan
This shows how weak this government is.
Once your own establishment starts working against you, there are no options left.
Pakistan Armed Forces Zindabad. Judiciary and the Armed Forces are the real heros, check and balance force in Pakistan.
What a humiliation!!!!
Everybody knows that who has the real power in Pakistan.Political leaders are only puppets in the hand of military generals.
Is Pakistan a democratic country ????
This Dharna was in Punjab so everything is understandable. I dont think the same attitude will be shown in Karachi ?
Looks like this Dharna has been organised and ended by establishment to embarrass civil setup.
proxies are spilling the beans by itself. First it was MQM, now it is TYL.
Who is this "Khadim Rizvi"? Never heard of him before..
New low even for the Banana republic.
pakistan in the grip of fundamentalist
Very sad state of affairs. Pressure on the courts for one sided accountability is also not hidden this time.
The uniformed cat is out of the bag.
Time to handle them with Iron fist once and for all.
Can't do much when you have a gun but it always points towards you.
New chief is reinstating what ex-chief fought to eliminate.
@M. Emad well said.
@M. Emad best moment of the millenium.
@m mirza you are 100% correct.
Khadim Hussaim should be taken to task for creating so much mess, causing huge property and human lives loss.
For 70 years the same games are being played. What about the welfare of the people of Pakistan?
@A shah - Pakistan is staring into the black hole.
Please correct it to:
Pakistan is in the black hole.
@MG -- What a humiliation!!!!
Humiliation is for those who have some izzat.
Rizvi is instigating rift and friction by such statements. It is not the norm of decency to expose what other parties prefer to keep to their hearts. Eyes of a Momin are always on the target. Never at the footprints left behind.
No law in the country!