ISLAMABAD: Tens of thousands of people gathered near a prominent national monument in Lahore on Saturday to offer the funeral prayers of the founding leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who died at the age of 54 on Thursday.
Rizvi’s son, Saad Rizvi, has been appointed new leader of the group.
Rizvi’s last political activity was to lead an anti-France demonstration on the outskirts of Islamabad to protest the publication of caricatures disparaging Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
The cause of his death could not be determined, though it was claimed that he was suffering from high fever and experienced breathing difficulties before his death.
Most people who participated in his funeral were not wearing face masks, though the country has been swept by a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and most cities have made it mandatory for their residents to take precautionary measures at public places.
The TLP party emerged after Mumtaz Qadri, a police commando, assassinated Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Jan. 2011 for defending a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for committing blasphemy.
Rizvi and his associates launched a campaign for Qadri’s release, saying he had acted to protect the honor of the Prophet (pbuh).
Anti-blasphemy protests organized by TLP in 2017 paralyzed Islamabad for several weeks, and were only dispersed after a military-brokered deal. Rizvi and his party also held nationwide protests against Bibi’s acquittal in Oct. 2018.
Pakistan’s mainstream media usually avoid covering TLP protests, but the group reached the masses through social media.
A controversial preacher who used strong language to revile his critics, Rizvi was accused of weaponizing the issue of blasphemy in a country where religious sensitivities usually run high.
His recent demonstration forced the government to consider the possibility of expelling the French ambassador after taking up the issue in parliament.
Tens of thousands attend funeral of hardline Pakistani cleric in Lahore
https://arab.news/wzdhn
Tens of thousands attend funeral of hardline Pakistani cleric in Lahore
- Rizvi’s son, Saad Rizvi, has been appointed the next leader of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan
- The cleric's critics accuse him of weaponizing the issue of blasphemy in a country where religious sensitivities usually run high
Pakistan says 641 Afghan Taliban members killed, over 855 injured in ongoing conflict
- Both neighbors have been engaged in fierce fighting since Feb. 26 after Afghan forces launched retaliatory attacks against Pakistan
- Pakistan information minister says 243 Afghanistan checkposts destroyed, 65 “terrorists and terror support locations” targeted by air
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has killed at least 641 Afghan Taliban operatives and injured more than 855 in the ongoing conflict between the two sides since last month, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday.
Fresh clashes between the two neighbors began on Feb. 26 after Afghanistan’s border forces launched attacks against Pakistani military installations. Kabul said the attack was in retaliation for Islamabad’s airstrikes earlier in February. Both forces have since then engaged in the worst fighting between them in decades.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Afghan Taliban government, are aimed at ending Kabul’s support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
“Summary of Fitna Al Khawarij/Afghan Taliban losses: 641 killed, 855+ injured, 243 check posts destroyed,” Tarar wrote on social media platform X.
The minister said Pakistani security forces have destroyed 219 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns in the operation so far, and also decimated 65 “terrorists and terror support locations” across Afghanistan by targeting them with airstrikes.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized power in August 2021. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks across the country in recent months that it blames on militants it alleges are based in Afghanistan.
Kabul denies the allegations and insists that its soil is not used by militant groups for attacks against other countries.
While Afghanistan has voiced the desire for dialogue, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled out talks, saying it will continue targeting militant hideouts in Afghanistan through “Operation Ghazab lil Haq” till Kabul desists from supporting militants.
The ongoing conflict between both sides has put the region on heightened alert, as it already suffers from the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
