Expulsion of French ambassador: Pak govt may bow down to religious political party demand

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 8 : Pakistan government on Thursday decided to table a resolution in National Assembly regarding the demands of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), including the expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan before Eidul Fitr.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and attended by Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and relevant senior officials, reported The Express Tribune.
Sources said the meeting discussed the strategy for implementing the agreement reached with the religious political party - TLP.
It was also decided that other parties would be contacted on issue of French ambassador's deportation. The meeting decided to bring the resolution in parliament before Eid, reported The Express Tribune.
The TLP has been demanding expulsion of the French ambassador over publication of blasphemous caricatures. In November last year, the party staged a sit-in in Rawalpindi, which ended after an agreement with the government.
The TLP had announced a sit-in in Islamabad to press for its demands. But on February 10, a government committee headed by Religious Affairs Minister Qadri assured the TLP that it would seek parliamentary approval on its demands by April 20.
The TLP announced on November 17 that the government had accepted all its four demands. The TLP had released a copy of the handwritten agreement, carrying signatures of Qadri, then interior minister Ijaz Shah and the deputy commissioner, Islamabad, reported The Express Tribune.
The agreement said the government would take a decision from the parliament regarding expulsion of the French ambassador within three months, will not appoint its ambassador to France and release all the arrested workers of the TLP.
Meanwhile, the government will not register any case against the TLP leaders or workers even after it calls off the sit-in.