Pakistan has lifted a ban on an Islamist party responsible for the bloody protests that erupted last year demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador following the publication of sketches by the Prophet Muhammad in a French magazine.
In a message late Sunday, the interior ministry said it had lifted a ban imposed on Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right party seeking to maintain controversial blasphemy laws in Pakistan.
The decision, the ministry explained, was taken in the “national interest” and after the TLP pledged to end the violence. Recently, demonstrations organized by the party were diverted and ended in clashes, resulting in the death of at least seven police officers. For its part, the TLP has announced that it counts 14 dead in its ranks.
For months, the party has been mobilizing its supporters to take to the streets demanding the release of its leader, Saad Rizvi.
He was arrested in April when the party was outlawed and described as a “terrorist” organization after he demanded the deportation of the French ambassador to Pakistan.
TLP spokesman Sazad Saifi welcomed the lifting of the party’s ban, which can now resume its activities.
At the same time, the TLP canceled its planned march to Islamabad from the Lahore stronghold in eastern Pakistan, and stopped the blockade of the main Punjab highway and vowed not to hold violent protests in the future.
Eight days ago, the party reached an agreement with the government to end the violent protests, in which 860 of its supporters were released. Rizvi’s leader remains in custody, according to converging sources.
Apart from the release of the detainees, the government did not release more details about the agreement.
For almost a year now, TLP has been denouncing France’s support for the cartoonist portraying the Prophet Muhammad.
Party members follow a stricter version of Islam, and the TLP became known in 2017 when it backed anti-blasphemy laws that provide the death penalty for those who offend Islam or Muhammad.
Source: AMPE
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Source From: Capital
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