ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: Three policemen were killed and several others injured in clashes with supporters of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious party in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, officials said on Friday, with the provincial chief minister announcing a committee to negotiate with demonstrators.
Violent protests by the TLP party and its supporters rocked the country in April when the group's chief, Saad Rizvi, was arrested in Lahore for threatening the government with rallies if it did not expel the French envoy to Islamabad over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) published in France last year. According to official figures, six policemen were killed and over 800 people were injured during those protests, following which authorities banned the group and designated it a terrorist movement. Rizvi has remained in prison since.
“The Punjab government has formed a committee with senior cabinet members to hold negotiations with TLP,” Hasaan Khawar, the provincial government spokesperson, told Arab News. “We hope that dialogue will resolve this issue.”
The government committee comprises provincial law minister Raja Basharat and public prosecution minister Chaudhry Zaheeruddin.
“We respect everyone’s right to protest, but we hope that people will not try to take law into their own hands,” Khawar said. “If anyone tries to do that, the writ of the government will be enforced. Dialogue is always a better way to resolve such issues.”
Khawar’s comments came after a clash between TLP workers and police in Lahore soon after the group instructed its followers to march toward Islamabad.
Armed with batons, rocks and bottles, thousands of TLP activists tried to cross blockades placed on the roads, forcing the police to fire teargas shells, use rubber bullets and resort to aerial firing to disperse the protesters.
Muhammad Arif, a police spokesperson, told Arab News two of his colleagues deployed in the city were killed during the clashes, adding that casualties could go up since many officers were critically wounded. A police spokesperson in Lahore, Mazhar Hussain, told local media three policemen had been killed.
The TLP group was founded in August 2015 and has made the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) central to its politics. It has opposed any changes to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in the past and sought the expulsion of the French ambassador to Pakistan after the repeated publication of caricatures disparaging Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in France.
The Lahore High Court recently declared Rizvi’s detention illegal. The Punjab government has filed an appeal against the court’s verdict on account of the “maintenance of public order.”
On Thursday, the group announced a “long march” to the capital, prompting authorities to block road networks in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other major cities.
“Our march has started now from Lahore to Islamabad,” Saddam Bukhari, a TLP spokesperson, told Arab News on Friday afternoon. “Thousands of people are accompanying us, and we will reach Islamabad to register our protest.”
On Friday, police spokesperson Zia-ul-Qamar described things as “normal” in Islamabad but added that riot police and other law enforcement had been deployed in the city “to protect law and order.”
He said no TLP protesters had entered the federal capital as of Friday afternoon.