Islamabad [Pakistan] : Amid the ongoing protest by the banned Islamist group Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Prime Minister Imran Khan government asked a new religious team primarily consisting of senior clerics from the Barelvi school of thought to play as the negotiator. The new negotiating team, led by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and comprising National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and MNA Ali Mohammad Khan, met the TLP leaders, reported Dawn. A team of 19 senior clerics met Prime Minister Imran Khan at his Banigala residence. The delegation was led by Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Haq Qadri. However, the senior clerics, all of whom were Barelvis, objected to the presence of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi in the meeting, after which he left. The Information Minister, Fawad Chaudhry who was on his way to Banigala, was also told not to come as the delegation had objected to his presence as well. TLP acknowledged the meeting in a press statement, saying that a meeting with the government team was held in Rawalpindi. In its second release issued late in the night, the TLP agreed to abide by all assurances it had given the government, including stopping the march in Wazirabad, reported Dawn. One of the clerics who met the prime minister told Dawn that Khan had given only one message and one mandate to the negotiators, and that was Saad Rizvi would be released and communication would continue, but the religious outfit should promise not to bring people out and disrupt routine life. After the meeting, the religious affairs minister spoke to media persons at Banigala along with the clerics and expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved amicably. Hundreds of TLP workers had taken to the streets throughout the country last week to exert pressure on the government for the release of its chief Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi.
