Pakistan to ban extremist TLP party behind deadly anti-France protests
- Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan supporters are notorious for holding days-long road protests over blasphemy issues, causing major disruption to the country
- The group has fanned Francophobia over the French government’s support for Charlie Hebdo magazine to republish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed
Thousands of supporters from the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have blocked major intersections in cities throughout Pakistan this week, with two police officers killed in clashes with rioters.
“We have decided to ban the TLP and the draft is going to the cabinet for approval,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference.
He said the party’s demands risked making Pakistan look like a “radical nation” to the outside world.
The TLP are notorious for holding days-long road protests over blasphemy issues, causing major disruption to the country.
But successive governments have a long history of avoiding confrontation with hardline Islamist groups, fearing any crackdown on religious parties could spark wider violence in the deeply conservative Islamic republic.