At least two protestors and a policeman were killed Tuesday in violent clashes between members of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and police in Lahore early Tuesday morning, less than a day after police arrested Saad Rizvi, head of the hardline party.
The policeman was killed in overnight clashes with the supporters of Rizvi, Lahore police chief Ghulam Mahmood Dogar said. 10 policemen were also wounded in these clashes in the Shahadra neighbourhood.
Two members of the TLP were also reported dead in Punjab.
As the protests spilled over into other cities on Tuesday, the police arrested more than 100 supporters of the party.
The violence began late on Monday after police arrested Rizvi for threatening protests if the government did not expel the French ambassador, Marc Baréty, over blasphemous caricatures.
According to Dogar, the arrest was aimed at maintaining law and order. But Rizvi’s detention quickly sparked violent protests in cities around the country. The protesters blocked highways and roads in several cities.
The deadly clashes come two days after Rizvi in a statement asked the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to “honour” a commitment it made in February to his party to expel Baréty before April 20.
However, the government has said it only committed to discussing the matter in the National Assembly.
The reaction from Rizvi’s supporters against his arrest was so swift that police in Lahore could not clear a main highway and roads. Thousands of people were stranded in their vehicles.
Monday’s clashes initially erupted in Lahore. Rizvi’s supporters later clashed with police in Karachi and they continued rallying on the outskirts of Islamabad, disrupting traffic and inconveniencing residents.
Rizvi emerged as the leader of the party in November after the sudden death of his father, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, due to the coronavirus. His supporters have previously held violent rallies to pressurise the government not to repeal the blasphemy laws.
Blasphemy is punishable with a mandatory death sentence, and the very mention of blasphemy is enough to inflame violent reactions.
The TLP wants the government to boycott French products and expel the French ambassador under an agreement signed by the government with Rizvi’s party in November.
TLP and other religious parties have denounced French President Emmanuel Macron since October last year, saying he tried to defend blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) as freedom of expression.
Macron’s comments came after a young Muslim beheaded a French school teacher who had shown the blasphemous caricatures in class.
The images had been republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, best known for vulgar irreverence, to mark the opening of the trial over the 2015 attack against the publication for the original caricatures. That enraged many Muslims in Pakistan and across the world who believed those depictions were blasphemous.
Rizvi’s party also has a history of staging protests and sit-ins to pressure the government to accept its demands. In November 2017, Rizvi’s followers staged a 21-day protest and sit-in after a reference to the sanctity of Holy Prophet (PBUH) was removed from the text of a government form.
‘ISLAM DOES NOT PERMIT VIOLENCE’:
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Interfaith Harmony Maulana Tahir Ashrafi appealed to the religious organisation to shun their protests, saying that Islam does not permit intolerance in the name of religion.
Speaking to a local news outlet, he regretted the incident in Dera Ghazi Khan where a police officer was subjected to torture by workers of a religious organisation.
“This police officer is also a member of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) Ummah. It is not as if he is not a human being,” lamented Ashrafi.
He said that the incumbent government had raised the issue of Islamophobia and blasphemy at the global stage, adding that Pakistan had “led the Islamic world” in its fight against blasphemy.
Ashrafi appealed to protesters to think of the people who were at danger from the violence and the women and children who were stranded since the past 24 hours.
“As the chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) I would like to appeal the protesters to realise the danger that the people in need of oxygen are in,” he said. “Whoever it is, whether it is a police officer or a common man or the worker of a religious party, at the end of the day, the blood of a Pakistani is being shed,” he said.
He called upon the leadership of religious parties to restrain their workers from committing acts of violence. “Neither does Islam nor any other religion permit such acts of violence,” he said.
