Pakistan's government accused of caving to extremists over anti-France protests

A deal allowing parliament to debate expelling the French ambassador from Pakistan appears to have quelled violent stand-offs between police and anti-blasphemy protesters, but left the government facing accusations it caved in to extremists.

Imran Khan's government agreed to allow the national assembly to discuss kicking out the envoy for his country's defence of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

At least four policemen and an unknown number of protestors have been killed and hundreds injured in the confrontation between Imran Khan's government and the far-right Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party.

Announcement of the parliamentary motion was hailed as victory by TLP supporters, who called off their protests. “Praise be to God our main demand has been fulfilled,” said one TLP leader.

The riots began when the TLP leader, Saad Rizvi, was arrested last week, days before he had vowed to lead a new round of unrest if the government did not sever diplomatic ties with France.

As violence erupted, the government quickly outlawed the party, which has become notorious in recent years for holding successive governments hostage with its street power. Footage of heavy clashes in Lahore and policemen being beaten and held hostage caused alarm across the country and raised questions of whether the government was in control.

Mr Khan vowed not to bow to violent blackmail, while his interior minister, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, said giving in to the TLP's demands would make Pakistan look like a “radical nation”. Yet soon afterwards, the government said it had made a deal allowing the parliamentary debate. Hundreds of TLP activists have since been freed.

The concession has been widely viewed as a climbdown, but Mr Ahmed insisted at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the government had not caved in.

“The state is not under any pressure and it’s writ is there,” he said. Those facing charges for their roles in the riots would still go through the courts and the TLP leader remained in custody.

Traders in a Rawalpindi market close to where riots kicked off last week said they were sympathetic to the TLP's demands and disillusioned with Mr Khan's handling of the confrontation.

Many of the businessmen said they had voted for Mr Khan in the 2018 general election, but had suffered growing discontent with his economic management. Now few had any sympathy for his government's decision to arrest Mr Rizvi.

Many said it was clear that the TLP had come out on top of the showdown.

“The government first banned them and then they had a security operation against them and several people were killed and now they are talking about talks. How can this happen after such violence?” asked Jahangir Butt, a 59-year-old standing next to his cart selling women's shoes.

Umer Karim, of the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, predicted the government's handling of the confrontation would alienate voters from Imran Khan's ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. “Definitely there will be electoral implications,” he said.

Emerging in the aftermath of the Asia Bibi trial, the TLP first campaigned against reforms to Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws.

The party has since become one of the most powerful groups in Pakistan and been able to dictate terms to successive governments. Mr Khan has been accused of appeasing the group before, when it paralysed Pakistan in 2018 to protest against the acquittal of Ms Bibi. She was banned from leaving the country for months despite having been cleared of all charges.

Muhammad Amir Rana, director of Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, said clashes had been inevitable if the government challenged the TLP's street power.

“The TLP all the time rely on this street power and it is used to using violent mob protests as a tactic to achieve its aims. The state wanted to curtail this ability.”

Even if the TLP had appeared to win this round, he predicted that the state would continue to target it. Yet without an attempt to tackle the extremist ideology behind the group, even if it was banned, it would likely spring up in another guise.

“The narrative the TLP are exploiting is very much alive and if this is not TLP, maybe some other religious party or other groups will come and become the custodian of these things,” he said.

“Pakistan doesn't have any remedy or alternative narrative which can defuse the power of the TLP narrative.”