LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – The Pakistani parliament is expected to consider a resolution on Tuesday on whether the French envoy should be expelled over the publication of controversial cartoons depicting the prophet of Islam, testing whether the government yields to threats from radical Islamists.
According to the resolution, cases against Islamists due to deadly anti-France protests will be withdrawn, the country’s interior minister said.
The fate of the resolution was unclear, but the mere discussion of Parliament on the issue would be a testament to whether Prime Minister Imran Khan is giving in to harsh pressure – and outlaws – from the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, Pakistan’s interior minister, announced the proposal in a video message after overnight talks with party representatives, who have been meeting since last week to oust the French ambassador.
Supporters of the group are upset with the publication of the cartoons in France. They are also protesting against the arrest of their leader, Saad Rizvi, an April 12 cleric who emerged as the group’s leader in November after the sudden death of his father, Khadim Hussein Rizvi. His party wants French products to be boycotted, and the French ambassador expelled under an agreement signed between the government and Rizvi’s party in February.
However, the government said it had only promised to discuss the issue in parliament before Tuesday, April 20. Ahmad then said that a resolution would be proposed by the Kahn government in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, to discuss the expulsion of the French ambassador.
Khan’s government has a simple majority in the National Assembly.
Rizvi’s supporters took to the streets across the country last week when police arrested him for threatening the government with protests over his request to expel the French envoy. Rizvi’s supporters’ reaction to his arrest was so rapid that violence spread rapidly across the country, killing four police officers and at least six protesters.
While authorities sent paramilitary troops to help police crack down on Rizvi’s supporters, Khan banned local media coverage of Rizvi’s party.
The ban on protests by Rizvi’s supporters has remained in place in Pakistan, where the country’s powerful military is using various tactics to stifle press freedom. Pakistan ranks 145th in the World Freedom Index, according to a report published by Reporters Without Borders, which says it is among those countries where the military and agencies control journalists.
The report said that the vast majority of the media are reluctant to follow the red lines imposed by the military. He added, however, that “the Pakistani censorship system is still struggling to control social media, the only space where some critical voices can be heard.”
Pakistani security forces in a series of operations have wiped out almost all sit-ins, but Rizvi’s supporters are still gathering in Lahore, the capital of the eastern province of Punjab, where they attacked a police station over the weekend. Supporters took 11 police hostages and released them on Monday, after talks with the government.
Ahmed said his government’s talks with Rizvi’s group would continue and he would share more details on Tuesday.
The latest development comes a day after Khan, in a televised address, defended his decision not to expel the French envoy, saying it could affect Pakistan’s trade ties with the European Union.
Tensions arose with last year’s remarks by the French president, who argued that freedom of expression is the publication by a satirical newspaper of caricatures of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which attracts condemnation from around the Muslim world.
Rizvi’s party supports the country’s controversial blasphemy laws and has a history of organizing violent rallies to influence the government.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad