Deadly clashes in Lahore Rise of Tehreek-e-Labbaik. ## लाहौर में घातक संघर्ष तहरीक-ए-लब्बैक का उदय ##
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN LAHORE?
Police in Pakistan said a right-wing group has taken 6 security personnel hostage at its headquarters in Lahore on Sunday after a week of violent clashes following the arrest of the group's leader. Pakistan's government banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) Pakistan earlier this week, After supporters took to the streets to protest against the arrest of their leader, Muslim scholar Saad Rizvi.
WHAT NOW?
Police said they have launched a security operation against the group in response to the attack. Pakistani news channels have been barred from providing coverage of the group since it was banned, and on Sunday mobile and internet services were down in the area where clashes were taking place. Supporters of the TLP have been sharing videos on social media of what they said were clashes on Sunday with police, and hashtags supporting the group were trending in Pakistan on Sunday. Videos showed thousands of protesters clashing with police.
TEHREEK-E-LABBAIK (TLP)
Though a newbie in the world of Pakistan's toxic Right-wing polities, the group is no pushover. In the 5 short years of its existence, it has gained heft, and is now taking the State head on, leading toa situation that is in some ways worse than what even neighbouring Afghanistan is going through. The three-day chaos saw severe violence across Pakistan, including in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachí and elsewhere.
Within Pakistan, the rise of TLP is a clear result of the securitisation of internal politics, with the military or factions within it backing its favourite group of the moment. As a result, there is competition within groups for patronage.
In its manifesto, Tehreek-e-Labbaik seemed relatively harmless compared to hot heads like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
But it is unabashedly anti-Shia and came together under the leadership of a man (Khadim Rizvi) who thrived on implementation of the harsh provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code against blasphemy.Those provisions have led to frequent attacks against minorities and
Shias across the country on the slenderest of pretexts. Experts also point to the fact that Pakistan's constitution has more Islamic clauses than nearly 40 other such States, with only Saudi Arabia and Iran competing for the top spot.
So there's enough material for any ambitious extremist to work on.
All this made for great publicity, which led Khadim to contest elections in 2018 that essentially ate into Nawaz Sharifs vote bank in Punjab. The TLP garnered 2.5 million votes across the country, and a newbie Right winger emerged as the 5th largest party.
AFTER ELECTIONS
More protests followed in 2018, this time on the issue of Aasia Bibi, a poor Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy by the Supreme Court. Matters came to a head in the aftermath of the Paris attacks in 2020.
The attacker, Ali Hassan, who was a Pakistani, was unsurprisingly a follower of the firebrand Khadim Rizvi. Pakistan again erupted into violence.
As French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the Right- wingers, the TLP took to the streets, with demonstrations demanding a complete snapping of ties with France, a boycott of French products and release of its cadres. The group triumphantly announced on 17 November last year that all its demands, including the expulsion of the French ambassador,had been met. Two days later, Rizvi was pronouneced dead, shortly after a meeting with security forces, under suspicious circumstances.
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