Pakistani radicals release 11 police hostages after protesters call for expulsion of French ambassador

Eleven Pakistani police officers have been released by supporters of a radical group campaigning for the French ambassador to the country to be expelled.

The officers were taken hostage during clashes in Lahore between police and protesters from the extremist political party Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan.

The government banned the TLP last week after effectively calling it a terrorist organisation.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said yesterday that the officers were released after talks with the TLP.

“Negotiations have been started with TLP [and] the first round completed successfully,” Mr Ahmed said on Twitter.

Police in Lahore confirmed the release of the hostages.

The group has been carrying out a campaign against France for months since President Emmanuel Macron defended the magazine Charlie Hebdo after it republished cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, an act deemed blasphemous by Muslims.

Rioting rocked the country for the past week since the leader of the TLP was detained in Lahore after calling for a march on the capital to evict the French ambassador.

The protests paralysed cities and at least six policemen died. TLP leaders said that several of the party’s supporters were also killed and many others wounded.

Calls for a nationwide strike in solidarity with the TLP were widely supported by mainstream religious groups.

Shops and markets in Lahore and Karachi were closed yesterday and some transport services were cancelled.

Few issues in Pakistan are as galvanising as blasphemy, and any suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests and unite the country’s warring political parties.

“The government has resorted to shedding blood of innocent people. The [protesters] are raising their voice rightfully and we support that,” said Sharjeel Goplani, head of a business association in Karachi and who supports calls for the expulsion of the French ambassador.

Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday called for an end to the violence.

“We all have the same objective – to safeguard the honour of our Prophet – but we must remember that we cannot make the West realise how it hurts us when they disgrace our Prophet by causing damage to our national property, life and honour,” he said in the capital Islamabad. Security in the city was increased.

Last week the French embassy in Pakistan advised French citizens to leave the country.

The TLP previously set the deadline of today for the ambassador’s expulsion.

Mr Ahmed said another round of negotiations with the TLP were under way.

Calls for a national strike in solidarity with the TLP were widely supported by mainstream religious groups in the country