The standoff between the Pakistani government and the extremist Islamist Tehrik-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is intensifying.
Members of this radical organization took at least seven police officers hostage in Lahore, a few days after the announcement of its ban and the arrest of its leader, a police spokesman said on Sunday (April 18th).
"TLP members are holding five police officers and two members of the Ranger Corps hostage," said Rana Arif, police spokesperson in Lahore.
In a tweet, Firdous Ashiq Awan, spokesperson for the government of Punjab province, said up to twelve police officers may have been kidnapped and taken to the TLP mosque in Lahore, where hundreds of party protesters are gathered. extremist.
They have been protesting since Monday against the imprisonment of their leader, who was arrested for asking for the expulsion of the French ambassador.
Anti-French protests took place in several cities across the country, leading to the death of six police officers and leading the French embassy to call on its nationals to temporarily leave Pakistan.
According to experts in the country, the government repression against the TLP is explained by geopolitical issues linked in particular to a desire for appeasement with India.
Request for the expulsion of the French Ambassador
According to Firdous Ashiq Awan, "violent groups armed with Molotov cocktails and bottles of acid invaded the Nawankot police station this morning".
Leaders of the TLP, a party officially banned since Thursday, said several members of their movement were killed on Sunday.
"We will not bury them until the French ambassador is deported," Allama Muhammad Shafiq Amini, a TLP leader in Lahore, said in a video posted online.
The TLP has embarked on an anti-French campaign since President Emmanuel Macron defended Charlie Hebdo's right to publish the Muhammad cartoons, an act they deem blasphemous.
With AFP
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR