Lahore: The government of Pakistan seems to be bowing once again in front of fierce protesters demanding to expel the French ambassador. Pakistan’s parliament will debate on Tuesday whether the country should expel the French ambassador as the government bids to appease a radical party that has threatened more violent protests unless the envoy is kicked out.
The Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has waged an anti-France campaign for months since President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of a satirical magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed -an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.
Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the government had agreed to hold a vote on the expulsion of the French ambassador, and the TLP in turn had pledged to “call off its protest sit-ins from the entire country”.
Leaders from the TLP, however, told AFP their protests are set to continue.
The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, announced an emergency session would be held on Tuesday afternoon, where a resolution would be tabled for debate. It is not clear when the vote will be held.
Resolutions relating to sensitive Islamic issues are often passed unanimously in Pakistan’s parliament, but are non-binding, with many previous votes not enacted by the government.
The TLP said it would press ahead with its planned march on Islamabad on Tuesday at midnight, unless the French ambassador has been expelled.
They told AFP they expected their leader — whose detention last week sparked the protests — to be released on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday pleaded with the radical group to end its violent campaign to oust the ambassador, saying the unrest was harming the nation.
“It doesn’t make any difference to France,” he said in a national address broadcast on television.
“If we keep protesting our whole lives we would only be damaging our own country and it will not impact (the West).”
Protests erupted following the arrest of the TLP’s leader last week after he called for a march on the capital to demand the French envoy’s expulsion.
Several police officers have since been killed in clashes with demonstrators, while 11 others were held hostage for several hours at a TLP mosque on Sunday, Lahore police said.