Established 1961 7 Sunday, November 22, 2020 International Huge maskless crowd gathers for Pakistani firebrand cleric’s funeral Rizvi died Thursday after suffering a high fever and breathing difficulties

LAHORE: Massive crowds of maskless mourners known for his profanity-laced speeches and the- gathered in Lahore yesterday for the funeral of atrical gestures, gained mass support and rose to hardline Pakistani cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, become one of the country’s most feared figures. who for years terrorized the country’s religious “In some ways, he was even more dangerous minorities, incited riots and advocated the than the Taleban, with his supporters not limited destruction of European nations in the name of to remote tribal areas, but present in large num- fighting blasphemy. bers in the country’s heartlands,” said Omar Vast throngs of men were seen packing the Waraich from Amnesty International. “(Rizvi) fig- center of the eastern city ahead of Rizvi’s funeral, ured out that in Pakistan, true power can be com- chanting in unison and for the most part flouting manded in the streets, where you don’t need the mask-wearing rules even with the country on the highest number of votes-just the highest number cusp of a second wave of the coronavirus out- of armed supporters.” His Tehreek-e-Labbaik break. Officials did not immediately provide a Pakistan party (TLP) held a three-day anti-France crowd size but local observers estimated several rally that ended after he claimed to have forced hundred thousand attendees. “Have you ever seen the government to agree to kick out the French such a big funeral for any political or religious fig- ambassador. The protests came weeks after ure?” said attendee Farhad Abbasi. “Of course the France’s President Emmanuel Macron defended movement will continue without him.” the country’s freedom of speech laws. The No cause of death has been announced for the Pakistani government and French embassy have 54-year-old Rizvi, who died Thursday after suf- refused to comment on the matter. fering a high fever and difficulties breathing, and no Covid-19 test or autopsy were conducted on Violent history the long-time wheelchair user. In life, Rizvi acted Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, as a lightning rod for Pakistan’s religious right, and where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam can was adept at stirring sectarian resentments and face the death penalty and the whiff of even mobilizing thousands of fanatical anti-blasphemy unproven allegations can lead to mob lynchings LAHORE: Activists and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gather around an ambulance supporters at a moment’s notice. and vigilante murders. Since 2017, Rizvi and the (left) carrying the coffin of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, founder of TLP, during his funeral ceremony in His death came just days after he led a paralyz- TLP have succeeded in dictating terms to succes- Lahore yesterday. —AFP ing anti-France rally in Islamabad, threatening to sive governments who fear sparking any backlash repeat a 2017 blockade that crippled the capital, from religious groups. and he has called for the nuclear destruction of The cleric forced the resignation of a federal group has also been linked with killings and an security analyst Amir Rana told AFP. “The TLP some European countries. minister and the firing of a leading economic assassination attempt on Pakistan’s interior minis- will remain on Pakistan’s security and political Despite this, Pakistan’s military hailed him as a adviser even as Pakistan’s economy cratered. And ter in 2018, while rallying millions of supporters at landscape for a longer time and leadership may “great scholar” and Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2018, the TLP brought the country to a stand- the ballot box that gave them seats in a provincial not be a big factor.” rushed to offer his heartfelt condolences-both still with riots following the acquittal of Christian government. However, columnist Zahid Hussain chalked up likely wary of the power of his movement. woman Asia Bibi. the TLP’s victories over the years to government Rizvi had weaponized the ultra-sensitive issue The party has also called for the assassination ‘Extensive support’ weakness rather than its actual strength as a polit- of blasphemy in the Muslim-majority nation and of Pakistan’s Supreme Court judges, pleaded for a Whether the TLP can hold its momentum with- ical force. “I don’t think anybody could provide radicalized large swathes of Punjab, opening a mutiny in the armed forces and vowed to wipe out out the charismatic Rizvi is unclear. “The TLP the type of a leadership he had,” he said. “It was new chapter in Pakistan’s violent confrontation European nations such as France and the already has an extensive support base. His lifeline more of a personal following than an ideological with extremism. In just a few years, the cleric, Netherlands with Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. The was his narrative and his narrative was still intact,” movement.” —AFP

said she had been thrown off her feet when a rocket News in brief Rocket attack on struck the hospital. “The impact broke windows and tables and dam- Guatemalan VP’s call to quit aged some parts of a wall. I screamed for help and Kabul kills eight called other staff members to evacuate the children GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemala’s vice president on who were admitted at the hospital,” Rahimi told AFP. Friday said he had asked President Alejandro Giammattei KABUL: At least eight people were killed yesterday “I am scared and have a headache from the shock of to resign with him “for the good of the country”, following when a barrage of rockets struck densely populated the attack. These attackers must die, they don’t even the passage of a budget that has sparked outrage in the parts of Kabul, the latest big attack in a wave of vio- spare hospitals.” Recent major attacks in Kabul, impoverished Central American nation. “For the good of lence sweeping the Afghan capital. The salvo slammed including two horrific assaults on educational institu- the country, I asked him that we present our resignations into various parts of central and north Kabul-includ- tions that killed nearly 50 people, follow a familiar together,” Guillermo Castillo said in a message posted on ing in and around the heavily fortified Green Zone that pattern in the aftermath, with the Taleban denying any social media. He also reportedly told the president that houses embassies and international firms-just before 9 involvement while the Afghan government pins the “things are not right,” and admitted to tensions between am (0430 GMT). blame on them or their proxies. “The rocket attack in himself and the head of state. Giammattei, a 64-year-old The Iranian embassy said on Twitter that its main Kabul city has nothing to do with the mujahideen of doctor, swept to power in January promising to clean up building had been hit by rocket fragments after one the Islamic Emirate,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah KABUL: People inspect a damaged house after sever- corruption and fight organized crime. —AFP landed on the premises. No one in the compound, Mujahid said, using the insurgents’ name for al rockets land at Khair Khana, north west of Kabul located just outside the Green Zone, was wounded. Afghanistan. yesterday. —AFP Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian blamed the The Taliban are under pressure not to attack urban Taliban, saying “terrorists” had fired a total of 23 areas, having pledged not to do so under the terms of progress has been slow and violence has raged across rockets. “Based on initial information, eight people a US withdrawal deal signed in February. Any Smuggled parrots in bottles Afghanistan regardless. Officials told AFP on Friday were martyred, and 31 others were wounded,” Arian acknowledgement of overt involvement in such inci- however that a breakthrough was expected to be said, noting the final toll would change. Kabul police dents could in theory slow the American pull-out, FAKFAK, Indonesia: Dozens of parrots stuffed into plastic announced in the coming days, and the US State spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz confirmed the same though outgoing US President Donald Trump has water bottles have been discovered on a ship docked in Department announced late Friday that Secretary of tolls and details. The Taliban denied responsibility, made clear he wants US forces out regardless of the Indonesia’s Papua region, authorities said Friday. Police in State Mike Pompeo would meet negotiators from the saying they “do not blindly fire on public places”. situation on the ground. The Islamic State group the town of Fakfak said the vessel’s crew reported hearing Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha. Trump At least one rocket landed in an office inside the claimed the two attacks on educational centers, but noises coming from a large box where 64 live black- has repeatedly vowed to end “forever wars”, including Green Zone, but did not explode. Kabul said the Taleban’s ultra-violent Haqqani net- capped lories and another 10 dead birds were found in Afghanistan, America’s longest-ever conflict, which Several buildings sustained damage to walls and work was responsible. Thursday morning. Black-capped lories are a type of par- began with an invasion to dislodge the Taliban follow- windows, including at the large Sana Medical Taleban and Afghan government negotiators rot native to New Guinea and nearby smaller islands. ing the September 11, 2001 attacks. —AFP “The ship’s crew told us that they suspected there were Complex. Mariam Rahimi, 26, a nurse at the facility, launched peace talks in Doha in September but animals inside the box as they heard strange noises,” said local police spokesman Dodik Junaidi. —AFP exit out of a post-EU transition period on December sides is “only slowly shrinking” and time may run out Close-run Brexit 31, and came at the end of a stormy week in London before ratification can be achieved by the end of year. when Johnson’s efforts to reset his government were “Nevertheless, there is hope that the negotiations can Balloon messages for Hong Kongers derailed by various political crises. The policy reset be concluded quickly if and when the necessary politi- talks underline was intended to steady the ship after the departure of cal decisions are taken in London,” the diplomat HONG KONG: Relatives of 12 Hong Kong democracy arch-Brexiteer and top Downing Street aide Dominic added. But how badly does Johnson want a deal? He activists detained in mainland China released balloons UK’s dilemma Cummings. But on Brexit itself, the government is insists that Britain will “prosper” without one, if need carrying messages to their loved ones across the border maintaining its hard line. be, even with the kind of quotas and tariffs that have yesterday, as they called for their return. It has been 90 LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s brinkman- “Our negotiating position remains the same... to been absent from cross-Channel trade for decades. days since the 12 were arrested by the Chinese coast ship has brought UK-EU talks down to the wire and take back control of our money, laws and borders,” the And if a deal is secured, he will have to sell it to guard in late August when fleeing their city for Taiwan his choice boils down now to a barebones deal or seri- prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters on restive Conservative MPs, many of whom will baulk by boat. Most of those aboard the vessel were being ous economic disruption in the middle of the coron- Friday. “We want an agreement that recognizes the at any brakes on UK freedoms imposed by the EU prosecuted in Hong Kong for crimes linked to last year’s avirus pandemic. Covid-19 has intervened directly in UK as a sovereign nation,” he said. The negotiations as the price of agreement. In any case, a deal would huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. —AFP the fraught Brexit process, pausing the talks in will continue remotely from tomorrow, but EU officials fall well short of the benefits of EU membership. Brussels when an EU negotiator tested positive, days are clamoring for Johnson to take a hands-on role on British exporters will still have to contend with after Johnson was himself forced to self-isolate after negotiating away the blockages that have bedevilled reams of new customs paperwork, and complain the he came into contact with an infected MP. the process for months. government’s preparations on that front have fallen Georgia opposition boycott The blip was particularly ill-timed ahead of Britain’s One EU diplomat feared the gap between the two woefully short. —AFP TBILISI: Georgia held runoff elections in several con- stituencies yesterday, in a vote boycotted by the words were distorted. By the Muslim Brotherhood- opposition, which has refused to enter the new parlia- France accuses Russia, quite widely-but also by Turkey, which has the ability ment in the Caucasus nation. All the opposition parties to influence a lot of public opinion, including in sub- have denounced as rigged the October 31 parliamen- Turkey of feeding Saharan Africa,” he said. Reiterating a position that tary elections and have staged mass protests, calling has caused immense controversy in France and for snap polls-a demand the ruling Georgian Dream beyond over the last months, he added: “I am not party has rejected. The ruling party, led by billionaire hostility in Africa attacking Islam, I am attacking Islamist terrorism.” ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, flatly denies Tensions between France and Turkey have risen to accusations of electoral fraud. An opposition boycott PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia new levels over a range of disputes in recent months, could weigh heavily on Georgian Dream’s political and Turkey of promoting anti-France sentiment in legitimacy. —AFP including Syria, Libya, the eastern Mediterranean and Africa, in an interview published Friday where he now France’s crackdown on radical Islam. France has sought to defend his vision for the role of the former called for a total rethink of the European Union’s colonial power in the continent. Macron also railed relations with Turkey, which under President Recep India virus cases pass 9 million against Guinea President Alpha Conde for clinging Tayyip Erdogan has significantly built up its presence onto power, while categorically ruling out negotiating and influence in Africa. NEW DELHI: India’s coronavirus caseload passed nine with jihadists to ease the task of the French force Russia has also played an increasingly active role million on Friday, as hospitals in the capital New Delhi deployed in the Sahel region of Africa. in Africa, with analysts pointing to the presence in came under increasing pressure. The country has now “There is a strategy at work, sometimes led by several countries of the pro-Kremlin mercenary also registered more than 132,000 deaths from COVID- African leaders, but especially by foreign powers group Wagner. Macron did not give examples or 19, according to the latest official figures. India has seen such as Russia or Turkey, who play on post-colonial name media outlets where he alleged such anti- a drop in daily cases over the past month but it is still resentment,” he told Jeune Afrique magazine. “We French sentiments are aired. registering about 45,000 new infections on average must not be naive on this subject: many of those who In a wide-ranging interview, Macron also ruled every day. On Thursday, Delhi’s government quadrupled speak, who make videos, who are present in the out negotiating with jihadist groups in the Sahel fines for not wearing a mask in an effort to get a grip on French-speaking media are funded by Russia or region of Africa, where France has a thousand- the outbreak. —AFP Turkey,” he added. strong force deployed. “We don’t talk with terror- “When I decided to attack radical Islam... my ists. We fight,” —AFP