An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Wednesday granted police a 20-day physical remand of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Pir Afzal Qadri, Pir Ijaz Ashrafi and Hafiz Farooqul Hassan.
Civil Lines police officials, after producing Rizvi in court amid tight security, sought a 60-day remand of the cleric.
Furthermore, they told the ATC judge that interrogators needed to conduct accused’ photogrammetric test, which according to a counsel, is the process of proving that the person in a video or audio clip is the person accused.
The court, after hearing the arguments, remanded Rizvi and others into police custody for 20 days.
On Nov 23, 2018, Rizvi was taken into ‘protective custody’ by police as law enforcement agencies launched a massive crackdown on TLP workers.
According to the figures issued by the government, a total of 2,899 people were taken into protective custody from across Punjab while 139 persons from Sindh and 126 from Islamabad were also taken into custody during the crackdown.
The crackdown had come two days before the TLP was going to resume its protest against the Supreme Court’s verdict acquitting a blasphemy accused Christian woman Asia Bibi. Violent protests had erupted in different parts of the country as activists of TLP and other religious parties took to the streets and blocked major roads and intersections through sit-ins and by putting barricades in protest against the SC verdict.
Published in Daily Times, January 3rd 2019
