Tens of thousands of mourners on Saturday thronged the funeral of a radical cleric whose Islamist party has defended Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law that calls for the death penalty for insulting Islam.
The mourners gathered in the eastern city of Lahore, where the Islamist scholar and leader, Khadim Hussein Rizvi, died two days ago at the age of 54.
Rizvi’s party, Tehreek-e-Labiak, holds only two seats in parliament, but his movement has repeatedly pressed its cause by staging large-scale demonstrations.
Rizvi led last Sunday thousands of his supporters at a sit-in in the capital of Islamabad protesting the republishing in France of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, which he deemed blasphemous. Demonstrators briefly clashed with security forces at the rally, which was one in a wave of protests across the country expressing outrage over the caricatures.
Pakistan's government promised on Tuesday that the protesters' demands for cutting diplomatic ties with France and expelling the French ambassador would be discussed in parliament soon. A spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Labiak, said the government had also agreed to release any party members detained at the recent protests.
The radical Islamist party gained prominence in Pakistan’s 2018 elections, campaigning on a single-point agenda of defending the country’s blasphemy law.
In November 2017, its followers staged a 21-day protest and sit-in after a reference to the sanctity of the Prophet Muhammad was removed from the text of a government form.
Rizvi led the protests last year, after Pakistani authorities freed Aasia Bibi, a Christian Pakistani woman held on death row for eight years on charges of committing blasphemy. A court acquitted her but she had to flee to Canada after threats to her life.
The prophet caricatures published in France sparked protests across Asia and the Middle East, with calls for the boycott of French products. They were also seen as the trigger for several deadly attacks against French nationals and interests in recent weeks.
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near a van carrying Japanese autoworkers, who narrowly escaped the attack Friday that wounded three bystanders in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, police said.
The van had been heading to an industrial area where the five Japanese nationals worked at Pakistan Suzuki Motors, local police chief Arshad Awan said. He said police escorting the Japanese returned fire after coming under attack, killing an accomplice of the suicide bomber whose remains were found from the scene of the attack.
“All the Japanese who were the target of the attack are safe,” he said.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the attack on the Japanese nationals. In separate statements, they praised police for quickly responding and foiling the attack. They also vowed to eliminate terrorism and prayed for the speedy recovery of those wounded in the attack.
Images on local news channels showed a damaged van, as police officers arrived at the scene of the attack. Awan said the three passersby who were wounded in the attack were in stable condition at a hospital.
Police were escorting the van after receiving reports about possible attacks on foreigners who are working in Pakistan on various Chinese-funded and other projects, said Tariq Mastoi, a senior police officer. He said a timely and quick response from the guards and police foiled the attack and both attackers were killed.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on a small separatist group or the Pakistani Taliban who have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent years. Insurgents have also targeted Chinese who are working in Pakistan on projects relating to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which includes a multitude of megaprojects such as road construction, power plants and agriculture.
In March, five Chinese and their Pakistani driver were killed when a suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan rammed his explosive-laden car into a vehicle when they were heading to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in Pakistan, where they worked.
However, Japanese working in Pakistan have not been the target of any such attacks.
Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan and the capital of southern Sindh province.
CORRECTS DATE - Police officers stand guard at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
CORRECTS DATE - Pakistani investigators examine a damaged van at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
CORRECTS DATE - Police officers examine a van at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
CORRECTS DATE - Police officers stand guard at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
CORRECTS DATE - A police officer stands guard at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
CORRECTS DATE - Pakistani investigators examine a damaged van at the site of a suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 19, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Police officers examine a van at the site of suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 20, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Police officers stand guard at the site of suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 20, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Police officers stand guard at the site of suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 20, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
A police officer stands guard at the site of suicide attack in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, April 20, 2024. Five Japanese nationals traveling in a van narrowly escaped a suicide attack when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest near their vehicle in Pakistan's port city of Karachi on Friday, wounding three passers-by, police said. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
