LAHORE: Both the “guarantors” and the government have sought 48 more hours to implement the agreement reached by the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and the authorities in Islamabad for ending Faizabad sit-in (in November last year), claims a spokesman for the religious outfit.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, Pir Zubair of the TLP said Faizabad dharna was terminated after “assurances by the government, backed by some institution".

The agreement, including certain steps to be taken on the government’s part, was never implemented sincerely, he regretted.

“This prompted the Tehreek to take to the streets and plan protest throughout the country,” the Pir said.

The planned sit-ins throughout the country had been put on hold because of the offer made by the “guarantor and the government.”

“We will be sitting here (in front of the tomb of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh Ali Hajveri) for two more days and waiting for the implementation of the (agreed upon) steps,” he said.

The contentious Faizabad agreement caused some controversy for carrying signatures of an army general as a mediator, which now the TLP is trying to refer to. The protest was eventually called off when the government accepted most of the major demands of Mr Rizvi under an army-brokered 11-point agreement, which contained provisions like release of workers arrested during the last sit-in and withdrawal of cases against them, arrest of those who changed the text of an oath pertaining to finality of the Prophethood and making of Raja Zafarul Haq report public.

According to sources in the Punjab government, a team of officials held a meeting with the TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi and discussed his demands.

Later, as claimed by the TLP spokesman, the government conceded one of the demands -- allow the mosques installation of four loudspeakers for prayers call (azan) and Arabic sermon on Fridays in all four directions.

According to the Tehreek, the government has also issued a notification in this regard.

Earlier, talking to Dawn, spokesman for the Punjab government Malik Ahmed Khan said: “We are in touch with them (TLP) and talks are progressing. There has been some progress on some of the issues like prayers call. The rest of them (demands) are also being discussed and hopefully (the issue) would be sorted out. They have extended their sit-in for two days in the same hope.”

About entering into formal negotiations with a person declared proclaimed offender by a court, Khan said that at this moment protection of life and property was also an issue. If any action to arrest Khadim Rizvi led to some violence, as presence of his followers at the venue suggested, the government would end up in even a bigger problem, he added.

Khan said Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was in contact with the protesters and trying to convince them to end the sit-in. The government wanted the protest to conclude through a dialogue, he added.

“There are some elements present at the sit-in who can create a violent situation if the government uses police action [against them]. We want to avoid a Faizabad-like situation at Data Darbar,” Khan said, explaining the government’s concern.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018