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Police officers stand guard at a demonstration after dispersing supporters of the Islamist Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan Party in Karachi, Pakistan on November 24, 2018. (REUTERS / Akhtar Soomro)The Pakistani police arrested more than 100 members of the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan group, including the leader of the radical Islamist party that had appealed for protest Sunday against the acquittal of Christian woman Asia Bibi.
Last month, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) disrupted Pakistan's daily lives by organizing large-scale demonstrations 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.
A man drives a motorcycle at a protest after paramilitary forces and police dispersed supporters of the Islamist Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan political party in Karachi, Pakistan on November 24, 2018. (REUTERS / Akhtar Soomro )"The police arrested him as well as other officers," said the officer.
"Khadim Hussain Rizvi was placed in preventive detention by the Lahore police. The action was triggered by the TLP's refusal to withdraw its protest appeal on 25 November. It aims to protect public life, property and public order, "tweeted Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
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 fully 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.
Following the verdict, the TLP called the chief justice and other judges of the court "murder" and described General-General Qmar Javed Bajwa as a non-Muslim and urged 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 has been 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 against any change in Pakistan's blasphemy law.
