Pakistan: Toll rises to 10 in clashes between Islamists and police over Saad Rizvi’s launch

Six folks died on Saturday elevating the loss of life toll to 10 in ongoing fierce clashes between the police and radical Islamists in Lahore, as over 8,000 activists of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) started a procession to Islamabad from Lahore to stage a sit-in for the discharge of their occasion chief Saad Hussain Rizvi and expulsion of the French Ambassador over the difficulty of blasphemous caricatures.
Among the lifeless are three policemen and 7 TLP employees.
Pakistan’s Punjab Chief Minister’s Office confirmed another loss of life of a policeman on Saturday, whereas the TLP claimed that 5 extra employees had been killed by the police throughout the protest in Lahore.
A day earlier than, two policemen and as many Islamists misplaced their lives throughout the violent clashes within the metropolis.

“A total of seven TLP activists have been killed by the direct firing of police and over 700 suffered injuries in Lahore so far,” TLP official Ibn-i-Ismail advised PTI. He mentioned the situation of many injured employees was vital.
On Saturday, police together with Rangers had clashes with TLP employees at Rana Town, outskirts of Lahore.
“Shahdara and adjoining areas turned into battlefields. Police fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters who in return pelted the law enforcers with stones. Many TLP workers carrying clubs appeared to be fighting back when the riot police tried to disperse them,” a supply in Lahore police advised PTI.
He mentioned the Rangers remained behind the police pressure and didn’t participate immediately in dispersing the protesters.

“As the protesters were carrying some bodies of those who lost their lives during the protest and insisting to bury them in Islamabad, the law enforcers were ordered from the top (senior officials) to allow them to leave Lahore,” he mentioned.
The supply additional mentioned the variety of TLP employees who “are allowed to leave Lahore” was round 8,000.
“The Islamists are heading to the capital on buses, cars, motorcycles, on foot and even on a couple of police vans they have snatched (from law enforcers) during the clashes,” he mentioned.
Till the submitting of this report, the TLP caravan was crossing the Kala Shah Kaku space, 45 km from Lahore.
Police officers launch tear gasoline whereas stand on transport containers used to dam the street throughout a protest rally by the banned Islamist political occasion Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) demanding the discharge of their chief and the expulsion of the French ambassador over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, in Lahore, Pakistan, October 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Lahore on the second consecutive day remained lower off from the remainder of the nation because the regulation enforcement businesses positioned blockade-containers in any respect its entry and exit factors.
Internet and cell service in most areas of the town additionally remained suspended until night.
In an announcement, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar mentioned: “Three policemen were killed during the violent clashes with TLP protesters. We salute their sacrifice. Strict action will be taken against those involved in the killing of the cops,” he mentioned and directed the well being authorities to offer greatest amenities to the policemen injured within the clashes.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who’s in Dubai, UAE, to observe Pakistan compete within the T20 Cricket Men’s World Cup on Sunday, rushed again house on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directive.
“Mr Rashid and two other provincial ministers are holding talks with a delegation of the TLP in Lahore,” a Punjab authorities official advised PTI.
He mentioned the talks are underway and the federal government is anticipating a breakthrough shortly. From the TLP aspect, Mufti Wazir Ali, Ghulam Abbas Faizi and Mufti Umair are speaking to the federal government.
During the clampdown on the TLP employees, police have reportedly arrested greater than 2,000 TLP activists.
Those arrested have been booked underneath terrorism, kidnapping, blocking roads, hooliganism and different costs.
Supporters of the banned Islamist political occasion Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) run amid the smoke of tear gasoline throughout a protest demanding the discharge of their chief and the expulsion of the French ambassador over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, in Lahore, Pakistan, October 23, 2021. (Reuters)
As the mainstream broadcast media just isn’t masking the TLP protest and its clashes with police, varied movies of police firing tear gasoline shells on the protesters, containers on completely different locations and Islamists marching in the direction of Islamabad had been posted on social media.
As the Islamists had been heading in the direction of Faizabad Interchange Islamabad (a junction between the Islamabad Highway and inside of the capital) to stage the sit-in, the federal government put in containers there as nicely. Rawalpindi Police blocked nearly the complete metropolis by inserting containers on roads. Rawalpindi falls on the path to Islamabad from Lahore related by National Highway 5.
TLP chief Pir Ajmal Qadri had earlier declared {that a} peaceable procession would start after Friday prayers. “If any hurdles are created, the party also has a plan B to thwart any official attempts. The purpose of the move is respect for the Prophet (pbuh),” he had declared.

Qadri additional declared: “The mission of the group’s founder, the late Khadim Hussain Rizvi, will continue even if we are martyred in the march. We will not end our protest till the government implements the agreement with us… regarding severing diplomatic and economic ties with France,” Khadim Rizvi’s son Saad Hussain Rizvi has been detained by the Punjab authorities since April final underneath the upkeep of ‘public order’ (MPO) following the TLP’s protest in opposition to the blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) printed in France and its demand that the French ambassador be despatched again and import of products from that nation be banned.
Subsequently, the TLP agreed to name off protests throughout the nation on the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf authorities’s assurance that it will current a decision on the expulsion of the French ambassador within the National Assembly.
However, the federal government had referred to as the NA session to debate the French envoy’s expulsion and earlier than a vote may happen on the decision, the speaker introduced the formation of a particular committee to debate the matter and requested the federal government and the opposition to interact with one another to develop consensus on the difficulty. No assembly of this particular committee has been held since April.

Meanwhile, a listening to of a Punjab authorities’s case for the detention of TLP chief Saad Rizvi couldn’t be held earlier than a federal evaluation board on Saturday because the authorities didn’t current him attributable to safety causes.
The board comprising three judges of the Supreme Court was scheduled to listen to the case of the federal government in Islamabad by means of a video hyperlink from the Lahore registry, nevertheless, the federal government officers didn’t convey Rizvi to the registry because of the regulation and order scenario within the metropolis.