The Pakistani government will call for a vote in parliament on Tuesday on the expulsion of the French ambassador after violent anti-French protests by Islamists demanding actions for cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, the interior minister said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan warned his nation in a televised address late Monday that Pakistan risks paying a price if it expels the French envoy, as half of the country’s exports are sold to the European Union. Read more
Relations between Paris and Islamabad have become tense after President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute at the end of last year to a French teacher who was beheaded by a man of Chechen origin for showing cartoons depicting the prophet in a classroom. on freedom of expression.
Muslims consider such drawings of their prophet blasphemous.
The expulsion of the ambassador is one of the four main demands of a radical group Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which the government banned last week after its members blocked major highways, railways and access roads in major cities, attacking police and the burning of public property.
Four police officers were killed, nearly a dozen were taken hostage and more than 800 injured, many seriously, during clashes with Islamists.
Islamists say three TLP members were also killed.
Violence erupted after the government detained TLP leader Saad Hussain Rizvi ahead of a nationally planned anti-France campaign to pressure Prime Minister Khan to take action.
On Monday, the government said it had entered into negotiations with the TLP and that the Islamist group had released 11 police officers who had been snatched during a conflict in front of the TLP headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore. Read more
“After lengthy negotiations between the Pakistani government and the TLP, it has been agreed that we will table a resolution in parliament today to expel the French ambassador,” Sheikh Interior Minister Rashid Ahmad said in a videotaped statement.
In addition to wanting to expel the ambassador, the TLP demands the release of their leader and hundreds of arrested workers, the lifting of the group ban and the dismissal of the interior minister.
All cases against the TLP and its workers will be withdrawn, the interior minister said, adding that the group will put an end to all sit-in protests across the country.
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