France tells citizens to leave Pakistan ‘due to serious threats’
The French embassy in Pakistan has advised all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country, after violent anti-France protests paralysed large parts of the country this week
"Due to the serious threats to French interests in Pakistan, French nationals and French companies are advised to temporarily leave the country," the embassy said in an email to French citizens. "The departures will be carried out by existing commercial airlines."
According to Al Jazeera news agency, the move came a day after the Pakistani interior ministry said it would outlaw the Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), an Islamist group responsible for recent anti-French protests across the country. According to reports, the TLP has been demanding that the Pakistani government expel the French ambassador and endorse a boycott of French products due to Charlie Hebdo’s republishing of the Prophet Mohamed cartoons last year.
Anti-French sentiment has been simmering for months in Pakistan since the government of President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for Charlie Hebdo’s right to republish the cartoons, deemed ‘blasphemous’ by many Muslims. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in conservative Pakistan, where laws allow for the death penalty to be used on anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures.