LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – A Pakistani ruling party lawmaker on Tuesday began a debate over whether the French ambassador should be expelled for publishing in France controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad from Islam.
The resolution by Amjad Ali, a Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker, was seen as proof of whether the government is yielding to the threats of radical Islamists. It came hours after the country’s interior minister announced success in his talks with an outlawed hardline Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan.
It also came after the deaths of ten people, including four policemen, in protests that erupted on April 12 after the arrest of Saad Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labaik. Rizvi had threatened the government with mass protests if the French envoy was not expelled.
Earlier on Tuesday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that according to the parliamentary resolution, criminal cases against Islamists involved in deadly anti-France protests would be withdrawn. However, the resolution did not mention the release of Rizvi or his supporters.
Asad Qaiser, chairman of the National Assembly, adjourned the session amid intense debate until Friday, calling on the government to address opposition concerns about the drafting of the resolution.
Tensions arose last year when the president of France defended as a freedom of expression the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad of Islam by a satirical newspaper, which condemned the entire Muslim world.
Members of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan are also protesting the arrest of Rizvi, a cleric who emerged as the group’s leader in November after the sudden death of his father, Khadim Hussein Rizvi.
Rizvi and his party want the French ambassador expelled under an agreement between the government and Rizvi’s party in February.
The government has said it only promised to debate the matter in Parliament before April 20, when Ahmad said a resolution would be moved to the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
Rizvi’s supporters took to the streets across the country last week when police arrested him. Rizvi’s supporters’ reaction to his arrest was so rapid that violence spread rapidly across the country. Four police officers and at least six protesters were killed in the violence.
___
Ahmed reported from Islamabad.