ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: In defiance of the government’s warnings, the activists and supporters of proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) resumed its long march to Islamabad from Gujranwala on Friday, plunging the cities on their way into a crisis.
Per an estimate, some 4,000 activists are travelling in cars, rented passenger buses and on foot continuing their journey towards the capital to demand the release of the hardline group’s chief, Saad Hussain Rizvi, and the expulsion of the French ambassador over the publication of a series of blasphemous caricatures depicting Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) by a French weekly.
The demonstrators spent the night near the General Bus Stand on the G.T. Road and resumed their rally in the morning, despite repeated warnings to the group to call off the march or face “consequences”.
Days earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan made it clear his government would not be blackmailed by the proscribed outfit and would deal with it as a militant organisation.
Citing a police official, a report said the next encounter between the group and the police was expected at two security points established at Chenab and Jhelum rivers, the only route for the marchers to reach Islamabad.
The government Wednesday announced to deploy the Rangers for two months in Punjab while the regular armed forces would also be used in case police and civilian security forces needed reinforcement to control the mob.
The official said this time the Rangers would lead the command, while the Punjab Police would assist them as per the standard guidelines also issued on Wednesday.
Earlier today, hundreds of Rangers and police personnel were deployed at the Chenab toll plaza to counter the protestors.
The security personnel also have armoured vehicles with them and are equipped with riot gear.
About 500 metres from the Chenab toll plaza, the Punjab Rangers marked a so-called red line and put up a notice nearby warning the protesters “not to breach the line or face consequences”.
“Attention: Beyond this line, the responsibility for law and order lies with Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), who have been given the authority to open fire at the miscreants. All the people are strictly warned to return to their homes,” the banner read.
The violence erupted after the government of Prime Minister Khan said it would not accept the group’s demand to close the French embassy and expel the envoy.
Khan’s decision infuriated supporters of the party who over the weekend suspended their march to Islamabad to give the government three days to consider their demands but resumed it later, accusing the government of “lies and deceit”.
The party started demanding the expulsion of the ambassador in October 2020 when French President Emmanuel Macron defended blasphemous caricatures as freedom of expression.
Macron’s those comments came after a young man beheaded a French school teacher who had shown caricatures in class. The images were republished by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to mark the opening of the trial over the deadly 2015 attack against the publication for the original caricatures.
Since then, Rizvi’s party had been threatening a march toward Islamabad, which it launched last week amid clashes that killed several people, including police officers, in Lahore and elsewhere.
Rizvi’s party gained prominence in the 2018 general elections, campaigning on the single issue of defending the blasphemy laws, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam ad the prophet.
32 ARRESTED FOR ‘PEDDLING PROPAGANDA’ ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that as many as 32 people associated with a “proscribed organisation” were rounded up late last night for their purported involvement in anti-government propaganda on social media platforms.
“32 members of the proscribed outfit have been apprehended in an overnight operation. These people were spreading hateful propaganda through fake accounts,” he said in a Twitter post.
رات ایک اہم کاروائی میں کالعدم جماعت سے تعلق رکھنے والے 32 اراکین کو گرفتار کیا گیا ہے یہ لوگ جعلی سوشل میڈیا اکاؤنٹس کے ذریعے نفرت انگیز پرپیگنڈا کر رہے تھے اور جعلی خبروں اور پروپیگنڈے کیخلاف بڑا ایکشن شروع کر دیا گیا ہے جلد ہی مزید گرفتاریاں ہوں گی
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 29, 2021
He added that more arrests are likely to be made soon as the government has launched a clampdown on fake news and propaganda outlets.
A previous phase of talks between the TLP and the government representatives ended in inconclusion on Thursday.
