Workers of banned TLP outfit marched to Islamabad demanding the release of their leader
Members of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan party reportedly used sub-machine guns (SMGs) against policemen during anti-government protests in Lahore, a media report said on Saturday.
Mobile phone footage showing members of the party firing 80 rounds of SMGs at policemen in Pakistan's Kamoke - 73 km from Lahore - on Thursday, was presented during a high-level security meeting, the Dawn newspaper reported.
In other incidents of attacks, two policemen were gunned down while 16 others were injured by the shots fired, the report said.
"It has shocked police high-ups from where the TLP was getting weapons and training to use them," the police official was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
He added that all participants of the high-level security meeting had reached the conclusion that the TLP had been turned into a "militant group" and the government must review its policy seriously towards this outfit, the report said.
On Saturday, thousands of TLP workers camped in Wazirabad, after talks between the government and the party leadership remained inconclusive, the Express Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said on Saturday that a 12-member panel was formed to act as a negotiator between the Pakistan government and the TLP, according to a report in Geo News.
The minister said religious leaders from across Pakistan met Prime Minister Imran Khan and expressed their resolve to find a solution peacefully, the report said.
Last week, the TLP workers rallied from Lahore to Islamabad, demanding that the Pakistan government release their leader Saad Rizvi - arrested last year for demonstrations against France after a French magazine published caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, and expel the French ambassador.