The Pakistani parliament is expected to vote on Tuesday to oust the French ambassador, a move widely seen as a capitulation by the government to a militant Islamic party that led to major protests and clashes with police.
The vote illustrates how deeply uneasy the government, Prime Minister Imran Khan, feels in the midst of a weaker economy, a new wave of coronavirus infections and the spread of social unrest. It also suggests that the party, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, which has profited from public outrage over the publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed in France, could pose a major threat to Pakistan’s stability.
Just a week ago, the government declared Tehreek-e-Labaik a terrorist group and banned it. At least four police officers were killed in clashes with the group, and at least 11 officers were taken hostage at one point. Police acknowledged the deaths of three protesters, but the party claimed to have been killed a large number of their supporters.
Intermittent protests since last winter have been fueled by President Emmanuel Macron of France, who last year gave a provocative speech of praise to a French teacher who was killed after displaying caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a classroom. Mr Macron said the teacher, Samuel Paty, had been killed “because the Islamists want our future and they know they will never have silent heroes like him.”
This provoked members of Tehreek-e-Labaik, who see themselves as a protector of the honor of Islam at home and abroad. The party has built up a broad base of support over the past few years and has collapsed over cases of alleged blasphemy, which could be punished by death in Pakistan.
The protests escalated after the government last week arrested Saad Hussain Rizvi, the party’s 26-year-old leader, in a precautionary move to thwart his calls for large gatherings.
In an agreement reached in November to end similar protests, the Khan government agreed to hold a parliamentary vote on the eviction of the French ambassador. In an effort to keep the government to the agreement, the group returned to the streets last week. Shortly after the government declared the group a terrorist organization, he was in the awkward position of negotiating with him.
Pakistan has long struggled with militant groups on the brink. The Pakistani Taliban, for example, has long been carrying out an uprising in the vast tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Tehreek-e-Labaik presents a thorny challenge. It draws its support from the Barelvi School of Islam, to which the majority of Pakistanis belong. It has shown that it can mobilize large crowds to large urban centers by directing emotional issues such as protecting the honor of the Prophet Muhammad.
The group first became known as an organized force when it protested for the release of Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard who in 2011 shot down his own boss, Salman Taseer, the incumbent governor of Punjab province. At the time, Mr. Promise justice sought for a Christian woman sent to prison on dubious charges of blasphemy.
Mr. Qadri was finally sentenced and hanged in 2016, but the group tried to free him by the murder of Mr. Tase to justify. Since then, it has transformed itself into a political party that disputes elections and continues to upset governments.
On Tuesday, it was clear that Mr. Khan’s government made concessions to the group while trying to provide political coverage by having the ouster of the ambassador to parliament vote.
Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said the 11 police officers taken hostage during the protest week had been released. He also said Tehreek-e-Labaik had promised to lift a nationwide protest while the government wanted to enter into a dialogue with France.
“After lengthy negotiations between the Government of Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Labaik, it was agreed that the Government will present today a resolution on the expulsion of the French Ambassador to the National Assembly,” Ahmad said in a video message early on. on Tuesday.
Mr. Ahmad said that as part of the agreement, any legal proceedings against the members of the group would also be scrapped. The national assembly, the Pakistani legislature, which would not convene on Tuesday, announced a special sitting for the afternoon to adopt the eviction resolution.