RAWALPINDI: Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Saturday staged a sit-in at Faizabad interchange and demanded the government to provide food and medical assistance to the people of Palestine and declare Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a terrorist.

Earlier, the TLP brought out a rally at Liaquat Bagh, which was led by Hafiz Saad Rizvi. The rally proceeded to Faizabad and on reaching there the TLP leaders announced that they would stage a sit-in for an indefinite period.The rally participants, carrying TLP and Palestinian flags, had arrived from different parts of Rawalpindi Division.

Speaking on the occasion, TLP chief Hafiz Saad Rizvi said the sit-in would continue until their demands, which included official boycott of Israeli products, were met.

Mr Rizvi said medical and food aid should be delivered to Palestine and Netanyahu be declared a terrorist at the official level. He said they would continue their moral support to women, children and senior citizens of Gaza who were facing Israeli terrorism.

Soon after the announcement of the sit-in, TLP workers and supporters installed camps on both sides of the roads.

For many the announcement had come as a surprise.

Due to the rally and later sit-in, worst traffic jam was witnessed on the main roads of the garrison city, with people facing problems in travelling between Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2024