ISLAMABAD — Extremists in Pakistan have released 11
police officers that were taken hostage during violent anti-blasphemy protests
against France over the weekend, the interior minister said on Monday.
اضافة اعلان
The officers were snatched by members of the Tehrik-e-Labaik
Pakistan (
TLP) during clashes outside the group's headquarters in the eastern
city of Lahore. Three TLP members were killed during the violence, according to the extremists.
Photographs of the captured police, with their heads, legs
and arms heavily bandaged, were posted on social media by their captors.
"They've released the 11 policemen they had held
hostage," the interior minister, Sheikh
Rashid Ahmad, said in a video
statement.
He said negotiations had with the TLP had begun. The
government outlawed the TLP last week after it blocked main highways, rail
tracks, and entry, exit routes to major cities, attacking police and burning
public property.
At least four police have been killed, and more than 500
wounded in the violence that erupted last week after the government detained
the TLP leader, Saad Hussain Rizvi, ahead of a planned countrywide anti-France
campaign.
Protests broke out last year in several Muslim countries
over the response in France to the killing of a teacher who showed cartoons of
the Prophet Mohammad during a civics class. The cartoons were re-printed
elsewhere.
At that time, Prime Minister Imran Khan's government signed
a deal promising to present a resolution in parliament by April 20 to seek
approval for the expulsion of the envoy and for a boycott of French products.
TLP and its associated groups have issued a call for
businesses and transport in main cities to shut, starting with the southern
port city of Karachi, the country's commercial hub.
France has advised its citizens to leave Pakistan
temporarily.
Due to the TLP strike call, the Pakistan Stock Exchange main
KSE-100 index opened over 500 points down on Monday, though analysts expect the
weakness to be short-lived as the government was already in negotiations with
the group.
Read more
region & world
.jpg)
.jpg)
