French embassy in Pakistan issues advisory to all French nationals to leave the country

The French embassy in Pakistan has issued an advisory for all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country in light of violent anti-France protests that have paralysed the South Asian country. The embassy will use regular commercial flights for the temporary departures of French nationals residing in Pakistan.

Islamabad: The French embassy in Pakistan has issued an advisory for all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country in light of violent anti-France protests that have paralysed the South Asian country. The embassy will use regular commercial flights for the temporary departures of French nationals residing in Pakistan.

The Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), led by the influential Barelvi cleric Saad Hussain Rizvi, launched a violent protest on Monday, demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador over the blasphemous cartoons published last year in a popular French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The protesters are also miffed with French President Emmanuel Macron's defence of the cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo as freedom of expression after a Paris school teacher, Samuel Paty was beheaded last October by an 18-year-old man in Paris.

Violent protests have erupted across Pakistan this week, following the arrest of high-profile cleric and leader Saad Hussain Rizvi of the Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan party. The influential cleric was taken into protective custody by the Lahore Police to maintain law and order in the country.

Following his arrest, his miffed supporters have shut down the highways and roads, disrupted traffic, and clashed with local security forces in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. After efforts of more than two days, the government has succeeded to clear the roads and restore traffic but the French embassy still issued an advisory for its citizens, due to the rising anti-France sentiments in the country.

Maulana Saad Rizvi is the son of highly popular Sunni religious cleric and the former leader of TLP, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who mysteriously died of unknown causes at the age of 54 on 19th November 2020.

Meanwhile, The Interior Minister of Pakistan, Sheikh Rashid announced on Wednesday that the TLP will be banned and forwarded a draft for the same to the cabinet for approval.

Earlier, TLP had entered into an agreement with the PTI led government in Pakistan to boycott French products and expel the French ambassador in February this year. The date of the expulsion of the French envoy was set for April 21. However, the government said it is only committed to discussing the issue in the country's parliament.