Pakistan bans the TLP, but at what cost?

Following  the  recent  release  of  a  video  in  which  Pakistani  human  rights activist Baseer Naved argued that there is no need for the Pakistan Army to negotiate with the Tehreek-e-Labbiak Pakistan (TLP), there have been reports that major differences have arisen within the Army over the handling of the TLP protests and some uniformed defections had taken place. Consequently, the  Adjutant  General  of  the  Pakistan  Army  reportedly  held  an  emergency meeting at GHQ Rawalpindi to  discuss  the widespread  discontent  amongst Pakistan Army soldiers in the wake of the government’s handling of the TLP protests. Reports suggest that the DGMI, along with DG-CI, ISI and Provost Marshal of the Pakistan Army were present during the meeting.  

The  ghost  of  Gen.  Zia  ul  Haq’s  Islamisation  of  the  Pak  Army  has  certainly come back to haunt Pakistan. Clearly, there is more happening there than is being  reported.  Part  of  the  reason  is  the  near  blackout  imposed  by  the Pakistani  government  on  reporting  the  TLP  protests.  The  other  factor  of course,  is  that  the  Army  has  in  the  past  has  supported  the  TLP  and  its demands,  thus leading  to  the  theory  that  it  was  in  fact  the  military  which created and mainstreamed the TLP. Following the three days of recent rioting by the TLP, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced the government’s decision to ‘ban’ the TLP (14 April 2021).  

This is a really a tactic  to  distract  attention  from  the  main  issue  which  is  that  the  Army continues to back the TLP as a political force against the government of PM Imran  Khan.  Recall  that  in  2017,  when  the  TLP  was  not  yet  a  registered political  party,  their  cadres  had  staged  a  21-day  sit  in  in  Faisabad  and brought life in Rawalpindi and Islamabad to a  standstill. It was well known even then that the TLP had the backing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the objective of the TLP protests was to destabilise the PML-N government in power at that time.  


It has been argued that this is the first time that the Deep State and Pakistani State do not see eye to eye on the TLP. In the past, when the enemy has been common like Nawaz Sharif, the State and the Deep State had supported the TLP together. Pertinently, when they felt threatened by the TLP, both actors dealt decisively and swiftly, as happened in  2018 and 2020. Currently, the Army Chief and PM are not on talking terms in the past few weeks, but the TLP protests made Imran Khan run for cover and for help to General Bajwa. Two instances in the past clearly demonstrated the Army’s closeness to the TLP. First, when the then Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal ordered the military to provide aid to civil power, the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa flatly refused  (2017)  by  saying,  “We  cannot  use  force  against  our  own  people. Calling the army should be the last option. The two sides should resolve the matter  amicably.”  A  second  such  instance  was  when  the  video  of  Major General Azhar Naveed Hayat (then DG Rangers, Punjab) showed him handing out cash rewards to the TLP ‘protestors’, clearly implicated the army. Subsequently, the TLP came to the fore in the 2018 elections in Pakistan.  


The ISI’s  aim  then  was  to  mainstream  the  TLP  politically,  as  it  did  with  other extremist religious outfits, as a tool for political engineering. It was planned to carve out the far-right fringe from the conservative voter base of the PML-N  to  limit  its  political  base  in  the  general  elections.  To  an  extent,  this  did happen,  and  indeed,  three  TLP  ticket  holders  won  seats  in  the  Sindh Assembly.  More  importantly,  the  TLP  emerged  as  the  fourth  largest  party having obtained around 2.5 million votes. Once the PTI assumed power, the TLP again raised its head over the Asia Bibi blasphemy case.  

The then TLP leader  Khadim  Rizvi  was  arrested  together  with  its  second-tier  leadership which  had  started  a  blasphemy  campaign  against  the  judges  who  had acquitted Asia of blasphemy, and  more  importantly, called for the ‘Muslim’ generals to revolt against ‘Qadiani’ General Qamar Javed Bajwa. But in late 2020,  Khadim  Rizvi  challenged  General  Bajwa  again  and  accused  him  of rigging the elections. Two days later Rizvi mysteriously died, from COVID-19!  Saad Rizvi, the current TLP leader, son of late Khadim Rizvi, was arrested a good seven days ahead of the proposed deadline for the latest agitations.  

The main demands were expulsion of the French Ambassador in Pakistan and a ban on French imports. Ostensibly, the riots started in reaction to the arrest of Rizvi. This was really a manifestation of the deep state being at war with the Pakistani State and a sign of the power struggle within the army. For three days the Pakistani state was missing in action, while the TLP continued its mayhem. Two bizarre videos emerged in the last few weeks. One was that of Army  soldiers  on  a  moving  truck,  surrounded  by  TLP  workers,  leading their ‘Labbaik ya Rasool Allah’ slogans, and TLP workers kissing the soldiers’ hands.  


The other was that of images of the TLP workers beating up the police. There is a long-term challenge faced by the Imran Khan government that they don’t know how to deal with and this has to do with the inability of the police to take action against the TLP. In many ways, the police were sitting ducks during  the  present  TLP  demonstrations,  as  they  had  no  orders  from  the government.  Today, the most important thing are the cracks appearing within the Pakistan Army. Reports of defections amongst the soldiers on the streets and high-level meetings  to  take  stock  of  the  situation,  underlie  a  far  more  important challenge. General Bajwa also stands  isolated for talking peace  with  India. Some reports have in the past spoken of the dissent within over the continued extensions that Bajwa has got himself. In the current situation, the ban on the TLP is a retrograde step as it is really a creation of the military. However, these are the first signs that a coup could take place in Pakistan. Pakistan has always been a mess and it is no different this time!