Radical Islamist party frees 11 Pakistani police hostages
19/4/2021 19:31
An outlawed Pakistani Islamist political group freed 11 policemen almost a day after taking them hostage in the eastern city of Lahore amid violent clashes with security forces, the country's interior minister said Monday.
Supporters of the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party attacked a police station near their rallying point and on Sunday took the policemen hostage. The group is protesting the arrest of their leader, Saad Rizvi, and pressuring the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to immediately expel France's envoy over the publication of controversial cartoons.
The tension stems from last year's remarks by the French leader when he tried to defend the publication of caricatures of Islam's Prophet by a satirical newspaper, drawing condemnation from across the Muslim world.
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