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Last month, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) disrupted daily life in Pakistan by organizing numerous protests after Bibi's acquittal in a blasphemy case by the Supreme Court.
"We arrested more than 100 TLP leaders and activists, including its leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, from Lahore and other parts of Punjab province," a police officer told PTI on Saturday.
He added that a team of government officials and clerics had tried to persuade Rizvi in Lahore late Friday night to postpone his November 25 demonstration, but he refused to give in.
"The police arrested him as well as other officers," said the officer.
"The Lahore police have taken Khadim Hussain Rizvi into custody and the TLP refused to withdraw its protest appeal on November 25. It aims to preserve public life, property and order," tweeted Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister of Information. .
The minister however said that "the arrest has nothing to do with the case Aasia Bibi".
"The TLP has become a permanent threat to the lives and property of citizens and makes politics under the guise of religion (…), the situation is completely under control, the population must remain peaceful and fully cooperate with the authorities, "said Chaudhry.
He said that the government did its best to convince the party not to organize the demonstration, but they refused any offer and began to incite violence.
According to reports, TLP workers clashed with police in Lahore after Rizvi's arrest. Three police officers and seven workers were reportedly injured.
The Supreme Court, in a three-member court headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, delivered the landmark verdict last month.
After the verdict, the TLP had called the chief justice and other judges of the court "dead" and called General-General Qmar Javed Bajwa a non-Muslim and urged the Muslim generals to revolt against him.
Bibi was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam with her neighbors. She has always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the last eight years in solitary confinement.
She was released from prison and the government says she is in a "safe" house. The government says that she can not leave the country before the decision on the petition for review against her acquittal. Chief Justice Nisar ordered the complete protection of Bibi.
TLP is an Islamist political party with Islamic ideology. He is known for his widespread street power and massive demonstrations opposed to any change in Pakistan's blasphemy law.
