The protest started on Monday afternoon against the arrest of their chief Saad Hussain Rizvi in Lahore as a “pre-emptive measure” ahead of the party’s April 20 deadline to the government.
The deadline refers to the party’s demands from last year’s October School teacher Samuel Paty, who beheaded by an 18-year-old man for showing blasphemous cartoons to his students in the name of “freedom of expression”. The 18-year-old was subsequently killed by the French police. Anger spreads in the Islamic world after French President Macron comments made on Islam, and his decision to continue publishing blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Thus, Muslims around the world Started the campaign to boycott French products in response to controversial comments made by President Emmanuel Macron on Islam.
The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan also had given a call for ‘Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat’ march from Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi to Faizabad in Islamabad on Sunday to protest against the publication of “blasphemous” sketches in France.
The protest started on Monday afternoon against the arrest of their chief Saad Hussain Rizvi in Lahore as a “pre-emptive measure” ahead of the party’s April 20 deadline to the government.
The deadline refers to the party’s demands from last year October School teacher Samuel Paty, was beheaded by an 18-year-old man for showing blasphemous cartoons to his students in the name of “freedom of expression”. The 18-year-old was subsequently killed by the French police. Responding to the teacher’s killing, French President Macron had said that “Islam as a religion is in crisis all over the world, schools will be closely monitored and control over incoming foreign funding to mosques will be further improved.”
Most Pakistanis on Started the campaign to boycott French products in response to controversial comments made by President Emmanuel Macron on Islam.
The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan had given a call for ‘Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat’ march from Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi to Faizabad in Islamabad on Sunday to protest against the publication of “blasphemous” sketches in France.
The protest started on 8th November 2020
On 8th November, The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) organized a huge anti-France rally led by the TLP chief Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi against French President Emmanuel Macron’s act of defending the publication of sketches of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
Party called for a boycott of all French products, urging the government to call back Pakistan’s foreign mission from France and expel the French ambassador in Islamabad.
The TLP chief also called upon the Muslims to get united to counter anti-Islam activities.
The Tahreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party has called for supporters to rally in Rawalpindi on Sunday, November 15, to denounce French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent vow to fight ‘Islamist separatism’
Nov 14, 2020– Blockades are installed at different entry points of the capital, including Faizabad, with the deployment of security forces to stop the protest rally of TLP from entering the capital.
For The Moment, police and other law enforcement agencies arrest 181 leaders and protesters of the TLP in different parts of Rawalpindi and send 65 of them to Adiala jail.
Liaquat Bagh presents a scene of a battleground as police and stick-wielding activists of TLP clashed throughout the day.
The protesters, whose number was officially given at about 3,000, manage to reach Faizabad Interchange where they stage a sit-in.
Riot police resort to teargas shelling against the stone-pelting protesters. During the clashes, dozens of police personnel and several TLP activists are injured and shifted to hospitals.
“Heavy teargas shelling also affected residents of the adjoining areas with many complaining of difficulty in breathing,” a resident of a locality near Liaquat Bagh says.
On 15 November 2020 Rawalpindi police and thousands of sticks-wielding members of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) entered a clash at Faizabad. The clashes left many of the protestors injured. the riots police also used intense tear gas shelling against the stone-throwing protesters.
On 16 November late night, The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) announced that the government had accepted all its four demands. the government had agreed to meet all its demands, including that it would expel the French ambassador from Pakistan within three months. The decision concerning the French ambassador in Pakistan will be taken by parliament as it is the biggest forum and voice of the people.
TLP said the three other demands met by the government were that Pakistan would not appoint a new ambassador to France, it would work to boycott all French goods at the official level, and also release all arrested supporters of the TLP.
Tehreek-e-Labaik warns to resume Protests on 3rd January 2021
The Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) warned the government of fresh protests if Islamabad fails to fulfill a promise to implement an agreement on expelling the French ambassador and taking other measures for organized blasphemy of the Prophet (SAW).
A central leader and member of TLP said “The agreement called for the implementation of the agreement within two to three months, and the three months deadline ends on February 16, 2021, which is just two weeks away,”
He said, adding that instead of showing sincerity with the agreement, the government had violated the agreement by stepping up the victimization of the TLP leadership by putting dozens of more TLP leaders and workers in the fourth schedule. He said Nacta issued a recent report which notified dozens of more TLP leaders, including the new president Hafiz Saad Rizvi and many leaders and workers, whose names were put into the fourth schedule despite that majority of them had no previous record with the police.
Under the agreement, the government claimed it would expel the French ambassador to Pakistan within 2-3 months via parliamentary consensus; would not appoint any ambassador to France; boycott French products at the government level, and release all TLP workers who were arrested in the lead-up to, and during, the sit-in. Of these demands, the government has only fulfilled the release of all arrested TLP workers.
TLP postponed its protest after a new agreement with Government on 11th Feb 2021
The TLP and the government have signed a new agreement. According to the agreement, the accord would be presented in the parliament for approval by April 20 and authorities will remove the names of TLP members from the Fourth Schedule.
The fresh agreement notes that the government and the TLP have been negotiating “for a month” to see the terms of the first accord fulfilled. It said that the government had conveyed its “resolve” to fulfill the agreement and would present it in Parliament by April 20 and proceed with the approval of lawmakers. It also said that the names of any TLP members that had been placed on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act would be removed.
Police arrested TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi on April 12
Rizvi was taken in after Zuhr prayers on Monday from Jamia Masjid Rehmat ul Aalameen on Multan Road, Lahore. The police didn’t give any reason, Pir Ashrafi said, adding that it could be because the TLP chairperson had announced a protest on April 20.
TLP naib emir Syed Zaheer-ul-Hassan Shah calls upon TLP leaders and workers to “come out on the roads” in their areas in protest against the government action.
TLP member Khalid Awan tells Dawn that the government had “turned back on its promise” to expel the French ambassador by April 20 and took Rizvi into custody. “We will not step back from our mission because of Saad Rizvi’s arrest.”
