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KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan's ultra-Islamist party blocked roads in major cities on Friday to protest the acquittal of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) said the talks with the government had failed and called on his supporters to prepare for an exhibition.
"The talks have completely failed, federal and provincial representatives and General Faiz of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) took part in the talks," said Khadim Hussain Rizvi, TLP leader in a tweet early Friday morning.
"The government warned," We will finish you, "said Rizvi in his tweet.
Knots of TLP protesters have blocked about 10 roads in Karachi city in the south of the country, and others in east Lahore, said Goer TV and other channels. Private schools in both cities were closed, as well as in the capital.
Groups of about 200 protesters from the TLP sat under large tents, listening to speeches on two blocked roads in Karachi, said a Reuters witness.
In a speech, a TLP activist urged his supporters to light new fires if the police managed to extinguish burning tires and other items that they had already burned.
Protesters were protesting the court's decision on Wednesday to release Asia Bib, a mother of four children on death row since 2010, the first woman sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan's harsh blasphemy law.
Bib was accused of making disparaging remarks about Islam after neighbors objected to her drinking water in their glbad because she was n & # 39; He was not a Muslim.
However, a panel of three judges appointed to hear the appeal, chaired by Chief Justice Sahib Nissan, ruled that the evidence was insufficient.
The case divided Pakistan, where two politicians seeking to help Bib were murdered, and scandalized Christians around the world. Pope Francis said that he had personally prayed for Bib.
In a national television broadcast on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Inman Khan warned the protesters that the government would act against any prolonged blockade.
"We will not allow any damage. We will not allow traffic to be blocked, "Khan said. "I appeal to you, do not push the state to the extent that it is forced to act."
Khan's broadcast followed the words of a senior TLP official, calling for the badbadination of Chief Justice Nissan and the other two judges.
"They all deserve to be killed," TLP co-founder Muhammad Fatal Badri said at a demonstration in Lahore. "Either their safety, their driver or their cook should kill them."
He also called for the ouster of Khan's new government and urged army officers to rise up against the mighty military leader, General Lamar Jawed Baja.
Hafiz Sae, an influential Islamist who the United States accuses of being the mastermind of attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and who killed 166 people, called for protests after Friday afternoon prayers.
Another Islamist group, the Millie Yakjehti Council, will also meet on Thursday to discuss the case of Bib and hold protests.
Bib and her family are still not known, and there is growing concern that she will leave Pakistan with her family, who have been hiding for almost eight years.
Written by Drazen Jorgic; Edited by Clarence Fernandez and Chris Reese
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