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 urges ‘time-bound and irreversible’ path to Palestinian statehood at UN
- Pakistan warns the Security Council Israeli settlement expansion has reached its highest level in the West Bank
- It says Islamabad backs sustained ceasefire, expanded humanitarian access, protection of UNRWA’s role in Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday called for a time-bound and irreversible political process leading to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, urging the international community to move beyond declarations and turn long-standing commitments into concrete action.
Addressing a Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations said repeated diplomatic initiatives had underscored that the status quo was untenable and that only a credible political horizon, grounded in international law, could deliver durable peace.
His remarks came as the Security Council reviewed the implementation of Resolution 2334, which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory.
Pakistan said recent diplomatic efforts — including a high-level conference in July and the General Assembly’s endorsement of the New York Declaration reaffirming the two-state framework — had sought to preserve the possibility of a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.
It said follow-up meetings at Sharm El-Sheikh, along with US-led initiatives under President Donald Trump aimed at halting the fighting, were intended to reopen a political process toward Palestinian statehood.
“A time-bound and irreversible political process, anchored in relevant UN resolutions must lead to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and contiguous State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the council.
“It is high time to turn promises into action and speed up this process,” he added.
Ahmad said Pakistan backed Security Council Resolution 2803, which calls for efforts to sustain the ceasefire, expand aid access and restart a political track toward Palestinian statehood.
He said settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, had reached its highest levels since the United Nations began systematic monitoring, citing UN findings that more than 6,300 housing units were advanced during the reporting period.
Such actions, he said, had “no legal validity” under international law but continued to undermine the viability of the two-state solution.
Pakistan also defended the role of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), saying it remained indispensable for Palestinian refugees and must not be weakened by what it called unfounded criticism.
Ahmad condemned the storming of UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem earlier this month, calling it a violation of international law and the inviolability of UN premises, and urged full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, along with the immediate start of reconstruction without annexation or forced displacement.
