Islamabad, 14 April 2021 (Media/Dawn)

Prime Minister Imran Khan has signed a proposal on the recommendation of Interior Ministry using country’s anti-terrorism law to ban the ultra right-wing Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) – whose supporters have rioted across the country for the past three days. The proposal which is already signed by the Prime Minister will be put for Cabinet ‘approval’.

“Today we have decided to ban TLP and this file will go to the cabinet for approval,” said Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid as he addressed the media in Islamabad.

Fierce clashes which broke out in different parts of the country between charged activists of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and law enforcement agencies on Tuesday reportedly left four people, including a policeman, dead.

Hundreds of protesters and policemen were injured and thousands of TLP activists and supporters were arrested and booked for attacking law enforcement personnel and blocking main roads and highways in protest against the arrest of their leader Allama Saad Hussain Rizvi.

Protests erupted across major cities in Pakistan on Monday after Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) Chief, Saad Hussain Rizvi was detained by security forces in Lahore as a “pre-emptive measure” ahead of the party’s April 20 deadline to the government.

The deadline pertains to the party’s demands from last year; in October, a history teacher who had shown blasphemous sketches of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in class was decapitated and his assailant shot dead by French police as they tried to arrest him. In the days that followed the beheading, the caricatures were projected onto the facade of a building in one French city and people displayed them at protests around the country.

Following the killing, French President Emmanuel Macron criticised Islamists and vowed not to “give up cartoons” depicting Prophet Muhammad. Prime Imran Khan as well as other leaders of Muslim countries had denounced the French premier’s comments while countrywide protests were held calling for boycott of French products.

Here, Dawn.com looks at the demands put forward by the TLP after the publication of the blaphemous caricatures in France and a timeline of its negotiations with the PTI-led government:

Karachi rally against France — Nov 7, 2020

TLP stages a big rally on Sharea Faisal in Karachi, demanding cutting of diplomatic ties with Paris and a boycott of French products. The TLP asks the federal government to take “practical steps” otherwise it would be compelled to take “extreme action”.

The rally is led by then-TLP Chief Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who urges the federal government to “declare jihad” against France.

Talks starts ahead of march — Nov 12, 2020

TLP announces the ‘Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat’ march from Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi to Faizabad in Islamabad on November 15. Talks between the capital administration and TLP leaders start while the party seeks security cover for the protest rally.

A team of administration officers try to convince the TLP leaders and organisers of the rally to call it off due to Covid-19 spreading all over the country, including Islamabad.

Security tightened, arrests made — Nov 14, 2020

Blockades are installed at different entry points of the capital, including Faizabad, with the deployment of police and the paramilitary force to stop the protest rally of TLP from entering the city.

Meanwhile, police and other law enforcement agencies detain 181 leaders and activists of the TLP in different parts of Rawalpindi and send 65 of them to Adiala jail after producing them in courts.

TLP activists, police clash — Nov 15, 2020

Liaquat Bagh presents a scene of a battleground as police and stick-wielding activists of TLP clashed throughout the day. The protesters, whose number was officially given at about 3,000, manage to reach Faizabad Interchange where they stage a sit-in.

Riot police resort to teargas shelling against the stone-pelting protesters. During the clashes, dozens of police personnel and several TLP activists are injured and shifted to hospitals. “Heavy teargas shelling also affected residents of the adjoining areas with many complaining of difficulty in breathing,” a resident of a locality near Liaquat Bagh says.

Govt accepts ‘all demands’ — Nov 16, 2020

TLP announces that the government accepted all it’s four demands and releases a copy of the handwritten agreement carrying signatures of Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noorul Qadri, Interior Minister Ijaz Shah and Islamabad deputy commissioner.

The agreement says the government will take a decision from the Parliament regarding expulsion of the French ambassador within three months, will not appoint its ambassador to France and release all the arrested workers of the TLP. The government will not register any case against the TLP leaders or workers even after it calls off the sit-in.

There is no immediate confirmation from the government of the agreement, but the interior ministry issues a notification regarding immediate release of all those arrested during the past two days from different parts of Punjab.

The party’s new young leader, Hafiz Saad Rizvi, is appointed as his father’s successor shortly after the death of TLP founder Allama Khadim Rizvi on November 19, 2020.

In the first week of the new year, TLP threatens to relaunch its protest if the government does not fulfil its promise of expelling the French ambassador by Feb 17.

“We’re bound to honour the agreement till Feb 17. A war for (protecting) the honour of the Prophet (SAW) has been waged. If someone has some misunderstanding, it must be removed as we pledge that there shall be no delay in taking a decision after February 17,” the newly appointed leader of the TLP says at the chehlum of his father.

“If you have forgotten the promise, see our history […] You’ve got time until Feb 17 to expel the French ambassador,” Saad warns the government while addressing thousands of the TLP workers attending the chehlum.

TLP’s new agreement with govt — Feb 11

TLP calls off its protest after a new agreement is signed between the party leaders and the government in which it is decided that the latter would present the terms of an agreement signed between them last year in the parliament before April 20.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also says that as decided in the renewed agreement, his government would take the matter to parliament before April 20. The prime minster reminds the TLP that it must not forget that no one has done more than him to internationally highlight the issue of blasphemy, not because of the TLP but because it was an article of his faith.

According to the TLP, the government team expressed its inability to “implement” the agreement and wanted the TLP leadership to stop protesting. “The TLP, however, refused to budge and warned the government to act or risk protest,” says party.

After protracted rounds of negotiations, the government team agrees to meet all the demands by April 20.

If the parties involved undertake any activity that is contradictory to the spirit of the agreement before April 20, it shall be considered void, the text of the agreement says.

TLP chief Saad Rizvi detained — April 12

The party’s new young leader, Hafiz Saad Rizvi, is appointed as his father’s successor shortly after the death of TLP founder Allama Khadim Rizvi on November 19, 2020n the first week of the new year, TLP threatens to relaunch its protests if the government does not fulfil its promise of expelling the French ambassador by Feb 17.

“We’re bound to honour the agreement till Feb 17. A war for (protecting) the honour of the Prophet (SAW) has been waged. If someone has some misunderstanding, it must be removed as we pledge that there shall be no delay in taking a decision after February 17,” the newly appointed leader of the TLP says at the chehlum of his father.

“If you have forgotten the promise, see our history […] You’ve got time until Feb 17 to expel the French ambassador,” Saad warns the government while addressing thousands of the TLP workers attending the chehlum.