France Urges Citizens to Leave Pakistan after Radical Attack

Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan, a radical Islamist political party, chant slogans during a protest against the arrest of their party’s leader, Saad Rizvi, in Lahore, AP

Islamabad: His embassy on Thursday advised French citizens and businesses in Pakistan to temporarily leave after violent anti-French protests brought much of the country to a standstill.

Anti-French sentiment has been simmering for months in Pakistan since the government of President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for the right of a satirical magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad – considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

On Thursday, the Pakistani government banned an extremist political party whose leader had called a march in the capital to demand the expulsion of the French ambassador.

Saad Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), was detained hours after Tuesday’s call, driving thousands of his supporters onto the streets in cities across the country.

Two policemen were killed in clashes in which water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets were used.

“Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French citizens and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country,” the embassy said in an email to French citizens on Thursday.

“The departures will be made by existing commercial airlines.”

Additional security personnel were dispatched to the French embassy, ​​within a guarded diplomatic enclave closed to the public, and shipping containers were placed as fortifications around its outer wall.

“Our police and rangers are capable of handling the situation,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference later Thursday. “All French citizens are safe here and there is no threat to them.”

Still, Ludo Van Vooren, a French citizen living in Islamabad, said AFP he was evaluating the embassy’s advice.

“We are a bit shocked and pondering what to do,” he said. “After the incidents of the last few months, we have not panicked, but we are very vigilant. Now we are trying to find out if things have changed.”

Last year, around 445 French citizens and more than 30 companies registered in Pakistan, according to a French government website.

World rallies against France

The TLP is known for carrying out violent protests on the roads for several days over blasphemy issues, causing great upheaval in the country. Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive subject in conservative Pakistan, where laws allow the death penalty to be applied to anyone who is deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures.

Successive governments have a long history of avoiding confrontation with hardline Islamist groups, fearing that any crackdown on religious parties could unleash broader violence.

“We are in favor of protecting the honor of the Prophet, but the lawsuit they seek could have portrayed Pakistan as a radical nation around the world,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference on Wednesday.

On Twitter, the hashtag “#FranceLeavePakistan” was trending with more than 55,000 tweets as of Thursday afternoon.

Anger erupted in the fall of last year when the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Macron’s subsequent defense of free speech sparked anger across the Muslim world, with tens of thousands in Pakistan, neighboring Iran, and other Muslim countries flooding the streets and organizing anti-French boycotts.

Supporters of the TLP paralyzed the capital, Islamabad. At the time, Prime Minister Imran Khan, a populist leader known for playing with Pakistan’s hard-line religious base, criticized Charlie Hebdo for republishing the cartoons, saying “willful provocations” should be “universally prohibited.”.