LAHORE: The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah (TLYR) on Saturday entered into an agreement with the federal and Punjab governments and announced end of their four-day sit-in outside the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh.

Speaking at a news conference at Data Darbar Chowk, TLYR chief Dr Ashraf Asif Jalali claimed that the government officials had assured them that Aasia Bibi, who had been acquitted of blasphemy charge by the Supreme Court, was in the Multan jail and would be produced in court during the hearing of a review petition.

Dr Jalali said the government had also agreed that a board comprising Islamic scholars would be constituted to offer ‘guidance’ to the Supreme Court judges. He said he would also be allowed to give his arguments in the court.

The TLYR chief said the government had assured them that thousands of people implicated in ‘false’ cases from Chakwal would be given relief. He acknowledged that some ‘miscreants’ had used obscene language and ransacked public and private property to sabotage the TLYR protests.

During the talks, the federal and Punjab authorities were represented by Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja and Minister for Auqaf and Religious Affairs Pir Syed Saeed-ul-Hassan Shah while the TYLR representatives were led by Mufti Abid Jalali. The two sides also agreed on some of the points previously agreed upon by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) though the TLYR had distanced itself from the agreement then.

He said the group had not ended their protest, asserting that only the sit-in was wound up. He announced that the TLYR would celebrate Nov 9 (Friday) as “Yaum-i-Ishq-i-Rasool”.

The TLYR believed that the SC decision was wrong as far as Shariah and the Constitution were concerned and needed to be withdrawn. The TLYR has been protesting since Oct 31 when the SC ordered release of Aasia Bibi.

Dr Jalali termed the Rawalpindi incident in which Maulana Samiul Haq was assassinated a conspiracy to weaken Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Namoos-i-Risalat.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2018