TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi released

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Rizvi has been released, party spokesperson Mufti Abid said on Thursday.

TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi has reached Lahore's Rehmatul lil Aalameen Mosque after his release from prison. pic.twitter.com/AYmzJgR5SV

— Roohan Ahmed (@Roohan_Ahmed) November 18, 2021

A high-level meeting under Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat could not reach a consensus on the release of Hafiz Saad Rizvi on Wednesday, reports Dawn.

The meeting linked Rizvi’s release with the decision of the Federal Review Board, which had already been approached by the provincial government seeking withdrawal of its application regarding his detention.

The local authorities have been directed to cooperate with the TLP in observing the first death anniversary of the outfit’s founder, Allama Khadim Rizvi.

Last week the government removed Saad Hussain Rizvi’s name from the Fourth Schedule — a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism or sectarianism under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

The Punjab Home Department issued a statement: “The name of Hafiz Mohammad Saad, being Ameer of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, a proscribed organisation, was listed in the 4th Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, under Section 11-E on the recommendations of District Intelligence Committee, Lahore.”

Rizvi was taken into custody in April shortly after the federal government declared the TLP a proscribed organisation under anti-terrorism laws and launched a broad crackdown against it.