Punjab orders freezing of banned TLP’s properties, assets

• Punjab Home Dept seeks compliance report from departments.
• Salman Rafique oversees decision under sub-cabinet committee.
• Ban imposed on TLP in October following violent protests.
  

LAHORE: The Punjab government has ordered the freezing of assets and properties owned by the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) across the province, according to a notification issued on Thursday.

The directive, issued by the Punjab Home Department, instructed all commissioners and deputy commissioners to take immediate steps to implement the order.

Copies of the directive have also been sent to the Board of Revenue, the housing and cooperative secretaries, and other relevant departments to ensure coordinated action.

The home department sought a report from the relevant departments after the freezing of the TLP’s assets and properties.

The decision was made under the supervision of Punjab Sub-Cabinet Committee on Law and Order Chairman Khawaja Salman Rafique.

TLP was declared a proscribed organisation under the Anti-Terrorism Act following violent protests in October. The Punjab government had directed to ensure full enforcement of restrictions placed on the group’s operations and finances.

Following the imposition of the ban, the provincial government transferred the control of TLP’s seminaries to religious scholar Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rahman.

An agreement was also reached between the Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan and the Punjab government to transfer, in phases, administrative control of 177 seminaries and 330 mosques previously associated with the outlawed TLP, The News reported.

Sahibzada Abdul Mustafa Hazarvi, Nazim-e-Aala of the board, formally assures the provincial government that Tanzeem-ul-Madaris will take charge of the identified institutions and abide by the conditions laid down by Punjab.

The memorandum also committed that all affiliated seminaries and mosques uphold national security, state stability and communal peace, and to “distance themselves from all forms of mischief or violence”.