ISLAMABAD: Members of the opposition criticized the government on Friday for “defending the vandalism” demonstrated by a religious party, during three-day countrywide protests, following the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy on October 31.

“The government virtually surrendered before the extremists and arsonists by signing a peace agreement with them. The ministers are now trying to hide their embarrassment by accusing the workers of opposition parties for vandalizing the public and private property,” Mushahidullah Khan, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator, told Arab News.

At the core of the issue is the case of Aasia Bibi, 51, who was on death row for the past eight years after being accused of blasphemy and convicted by a lower court in 2010. However, citing a lack of credible evidence in the case, the Supreme Court (SC) overturned the ruling last week, acquitting Bibi of all charges. The decision led to massive protests across the country, spearheaded by a far-right religious party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who set several conditions for calling off the protests. Prime among these was that the SC overturns its verdict and places Bibi on the country’s Exit Control List (ECL).In order to call off the protests, the government agreed to a five-point deal.

Taking umbrage over the government’s decision, Khan said that the TLP leadership publicly incited people against state institutions, including the top judiciary and the army, during the protests, but “the government is still trying to protect them”.

“The ministers are demonstrating childish behavior and this will ultimately jeopardize the state and its institutions,” he said, urging the government to take strict action against the TLP activists for torching public and private property during the protests.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Shehryar Khan Afridi accused opposition parties, including the PML-N, of inciting violence in various cities during the TLP protests. “We showed TLP leaders the footage of the people being violent on the streets and they disowned them,” Afridi said, defending the five-point agreement as a necessary move to avoid “bloodshed”.

Afridi had also said at the time that the government would not use bullets against its own citizens. “We will embrace our citizens and hold talks with them,” he added.

It may be recalled that TLP protesters blocked main highways in major cities of the country shortly after the Supreme Court verdict.

“The protesters and their leaders openly challenged the writ of the state, but the government was nowhere to be seen,” Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator, told Arab News, adding that the government is “playing with fire by trying to appease religious fanatics”.

“It is time to take action against those inciting violence against state institutions, instead of indulging in blame game,” he said.

Khokhar said that all opposition parties supported the government during the protests and they were not expecting “baseless accusations” from the authorities. “The government should share evidence with the parliament about its claims that the opposition parties were behind the agitators,” he added.

The government, however, said it stood by the comments and observations made by Afridi. “We stand by whatever the minister said in the Senate,” Javaria Zafar Aheer, Parliamentary Secretary for Information, told Arab News.

Defending the agreement with the TLP, she added: “This was done to restore law and order … the government will definitely take action against those who challenged the writ of the state.”