Christians in Pakistan expressed cautious relief after a massive crackdown last week on a Muslim extremist political party that has wreaked violence on Christians and other religious minorities.
The Punjab Province government on Oct. 13 initiated a large-scale, pre-dawn operation to dismantle potentially violent protests by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and thwart its “Gaza solidarity” march. Calling a recent U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas a “conspiracy to subjugate the Palestinian people,” the TLP starting from Lahore aimed to reach the federal capital of Islamabad and protest outside the U.S. embassy.
At least one police officer was killed and dozens of others injured, some seriously, in clashes with the protesters, Punjab police said in a statement. While the statement asserted only three TLP members were killed, TLP-affiliated social media claimed the police action resulted in hundreds of deaths among their ranks.
The police operation was conducted in Muridke, about 50 kilometers from Lahore, where the protesters had camped for the night. Following the security operation against the TLP, Punjab government authorities said they had detained more than 2,700 people, while another 2,800 were placed on an “exit control” list barring them from leaving the country.
The government also sealed more than 60 mosques and seminaries affiliated with the party in several cities as well as its headquarters in Lahore. TLP chief Saad Hussain Rizvi and his younger brother Anas Hussain Rizvi, however, escaped arrest and were said to be hiding in the autonomous region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said in a statement that the provincial government also had filed a summary with the federal government seeking a ban on the extremist party, though it did not explicitly name TLP.
“Those involved in inciting violence, spreading hatred and violating the law would be arrested immediately [under the proposed ban],” the statement read. “The extremist party’s leadership will be placed in the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.”
The Fourth Schedule is a list of proscribed individuals suspected of terrorism and sectarianism under Pakistan’s antiterrorism legislation.
“All properties and assets of the extremist party will be handed over to the Punjab Auqaf Department. There will be a complete ban on the extremist party’s posters, banners and advertisements,” the statement added.
It further said that “all bank accounts” of the party will be frozen, and that its social media accounts “spreading hatred will be taken down.” The Punjab government also vowed “strict action on the violation of the Loudspeaker Act.”
TLP came to prominence for its vehement support for Mumtaz Qadri, a police constable who shot Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer in 2011 for expressing sympathetic sentiments towards Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
The party continued to mobilize around issues of Islamist import, with its first major protest taking place in November 2017. Subsequently it carried out similar, often violent protests in 2020 and 2021 over the publication of perceived blasphemous caricatures, during which several police officials were killed.
The federal government had previously imposed a ban on the TLP in April 2021 on the recommendation of the Punjab government under the anti-terrorism laws. The ban was revoked in November that year upon request of the Punjab government days after a deal was reached with the group to end its violent protest march to Islamabad.
Restrictions were also briefly imposed on the TLP in June 2023, when the party was carrying out a long march from Lahore to Islamabad. Restrictions lifted under an agreement reached on June 17, 2023 included a ban on the coverage of the party on electronic and social media.
The provincial government can request a ban be imposed on a party, as in the case of the TLP. In turn, the federal government has the power to refer this request to the Supreme Court, by declaring that the party “has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan,” according to Article 17(2) of the Constitution.
The final decision to ban a political party rests with the Supreme Court, as per the Constitution.
“The federal government shall, within 15 days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court, whose decision on such reference shall be final,” the article states.
‘Long Overdue Action’
Christian rights activists have welcomed the government’s crackdown on the party, saying it was “long overdue.”
The rise of TLP witnessed a drastic increase in blasphemy cases filed across the country against Christians and Ahmadis, as well as attacks on churches and other places of worship and graveyards. In August 2023, several hundred TLP members ransacked and destroyed multiple church buildings and homes of Christians in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, Punjab Province, after two Christians were falsely accused of committing blasphemy.
In June 2024, party members lynched an elderly Christian, Nazeer Masih Gill, in Sargodha after falsely accusing him of burning the Quran. The mob also burned the Christian’s house and a shoe factory owned by his family.
“The TLP’s primary agenda since its inception has been violence in the name of the blasphemy laws,” said a Christian attorney who represents several people falsely accused of blasphemy. “They have publicly chanted slogans of ‘separating the head from the body of a blasphemer’ and even threatened judges and government officials with death for speaking against the misuse of the [blasphemy] laws. The party has instilled so much fear in the judiciary that many judges refused to take up appeals by blasphemy convicts.”
The attorney, whose name is withheld for security reasons, lauded the Punjab government for taking a firm stand against the extremist party, saying the TLP had never previously been held accountable for violence.
“In the past protests, TLP often perpetrated violence against police personnel, with several police officers dying during different protests,” he said. “This time, with the state’s full backing, police had the opportunity to go after the party.”
Samson Salamat, chairman of Rwadari Tehreek or the Movement for Equality, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that stern action against the TLP should have been taken long ago.
“However, the state must not show any flexibility at this stage and should ensure that extremist parties and groups like TLP are not allowed to reemerge,” he said. “Previous attempts to rein in TLP resulted in the group getting stronger and carrying out religiously-motivated attacks with more impunity. We hope that this time the government has learned from its experiences and will not be blackmailed into making any concessions.”
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
