After violent protests, Pak govt freezes assets of banned party TLP's chief

Following the series of violent protests by the radical Islamist party, the provincial government in Pakistan's Punjab on Saturday placed Saad Rizvi, the chief of the banned party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), on the country's fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), Geo News reports.

The fourth schedule is a list of proscribed individuals who are suspected of terrorism and/or sectarism.

According to a government notification, Rizvi's assets have been frozen, and his national identity card has been blocked. Under this provision, the TLP chief cannot conduct transactions via banks, nor can he sell or purchase any property.

This comes a day after TLP was banned, under the country's anti-terrorism law and the federal government of Pakistan moved to Supreme Court for dissolution of the TLP that caused violent protests this week following the arrest of their leader.

The TLP is protesting against the arrest of their leader Rizvi, who was taken into custody earlier this week, and blasphemous caricatures published in France. The protests have turned violent and several casualties have also been reported.

The demonstrators have demanded that the French ambassador be sent home and import of goods from that country should be banned, as reported by Dawn.

According to media reports, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government signed an agreement with the TLP in November last agreeing to expel the French Ambassador.

The TLP launched a massive protest in November last year against the cartoons but dispersed after the agreement with the government to expel the Ambassador by February. The deal was extended until April 20.

( With inputs from ANI )