Pakistan bans Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan amid violent protests

Apr 14, 2021

Islamabad (Pakistan) April 14, 2021 (ANI): Interior Minister of Pakistan, Sheikh Rashid on Wednesday announced that the government has decided to ban the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), whose supporters and workers have been carrying out violent protests across the country for three days after the arrest of their chief. On April 12, TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi was arrested by police in Lahore. Reports indicate that 28 TLP activists and 2 policemen have been killed in the violence. Rizvi has been detained by the security forces as a “pre-emptive measure” ahead of TLP’s April 20 deadline to expel the French ambassador. TLP is a far-right Islamist political party in Pakistan, which has been demanding expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan. It is opposing publication of blasphemous caricatures in Charlie Hebdo magazine and remarks about Islam and terrorism by French President Emmanuel Macron. TLP said the Imran Khan Government has “turned back on its promise” to expel the French envoy.