Punjab govt freezes TLP officials’ assets worth Rs23.4 billion

LAHORE: The Punjab government has frozen assets worth Rs23.4 billion belonging to officials of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

This was disclosed at a meeting on the law and order chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday.

The meeting was apprised that the Punjab government dismantled financial and military infrastructure of the extremist and terrorist outfit and recovered illegal state-of-the-art weapons, thousands of bullets, bulletproof jackets and military equipment.

It was told that the Punjab government halted funding for the outfit for spreading hatred in the name of protest and froze bank and digital accounts including 92 Jazz cash accounts.

The meeting was told that cases have also been registered against nine financiers of the banned outfit.

The Punjab government also decided to request the federal government to take similar action against the banned extremist party in other provinces.

Maryam Nawaz ordered continuous combing operations across the province and registration of cases against individuals for sharing content on social media against security institutions.

The meeting was briefed that more than 61,000 forms have been distributed among mosques and imams in Punjab and over 50,000 Imams have so far registered themselves with the Punjab government.

The meeting was told that 82 per cent of mosques and Imams has been completed in the province.

Maryam Nawaz instructed the authorities to treat Imams with respect. She said that Imams lead prayers and they cannot afford to seek donations to make both ends meet.

The Punjab chief minister directed the authorities to show zero tolerance for wall chalking and issued instructions for the strict implementation of the complete ban on wall chalking.

The chief minister directed the authorities to further increase surveillance in view of the recent attack in Islamabad. She directed the officials to carry out surveillance in every district to monitor harassment incidents.