Govt agreed to ban French products, says TLP after cancelling protest

REUTERS: The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan has claimed that the government has signed a document according to which it will ban French products in the country, in response to Emmanuel Macron’s support for blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“We are calling off our protests after government signed an agreement that it will officially endorse boycotting the French products,” Ejaz Ashrafi, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, told Reuters by phone.

The government has not yet commented on the agreement, that according to a copy seen by Reuters has been signed by two ministers, a top official and the group’s leaders.

Ashrafi said other conditions included the government working to expel the French envoy through parliament in two to three months time and Pakistan not sending its ambassador to Paris.

All protesters and their leaders arrested would be set free immediately, the spokesman said, shortly after he was released.

The group that has made blasphemy its rallying cry had sealed one of the main entrances to the capital, demanding the government sever diplomatic ties with France and expel its ambassador.

Protests broke out in several Muslim countries over France’s response to a deadly attack last month on a teacher who showed cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to pupils during a civics lesson.

For Muslims, depictions of the Prophet (PBUH) are blasphemous.