Pakistan Had To Deploy Paramilitary Forces to End Deadly Islamist Protests

Two police officers were killed and around 125 policemen were hurt during clashes with protesters in Lahore.

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Paramilitary forces were deployed overnight in the eastern Pakistan province of Punjab as police struggle to clear violent occupied places by Islamists protesting against the arrest of their leader.

This protest was called by Tehrik-I-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a tough Islamist group that has made the denunciation of blasphemy against Islam its rallying cry, Their leader Saad Rizvi was arrested in Lahore on Monday ahead of the demonstrations.

On Tuesday, Rizvi was charged for instigating the murder of a police constable, who authorities say was kidnapped by protesters and later beaten to death. 

Major roads across the whole country were blocked by the protesters on Monday and Tuesday, but by Tuesday evening the police had managed to clear most of the crowds, except in Lahore, where Paramilitary forces had to be brought in.

Local news outlets all over Pakistan reported similar incidents of protesters overpowering police in other cities, In one, a police officer with a bloodied face is made frog-marched along a road by protesters, in another, a group of police personals is seated on the ground surrounded by protesters, with one police officer bleeding and appearing to be badly injured.

The TLP group blocked one of the main roads in the capital late last year and called off the protest only after the government signed a deal with them agreeing to put a boycott of French products.

At the same time trouble broke out in several Muslim countries over France’s response to the killing of a teacher who showed cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammad to pupils during a civics lesson.

For many Muslims, depictions of the prophet are blasphemous, The group's agreement with their government was corrected earlier this year, extending to April 20th is the deadline for a parliamentary decision to remove the French ambassador.