The anti-Macron protests in Pakistan

The protests against Macron began immediately after his statements of last July 2020. According to the most extremist groups in Pakistan, he is guilty of increasing Islamophobic sentiment

Strong anti-French sentiment in Pakistan erupted last July, when French President Emmanuel Macron defended French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s freedom of the press and more generally that of French satire. The Pakistani government immediately opposed this choice, as the satirical cartoons of Charlie Hebdo have always been considered blasphemy against the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Already on 20^th October, the head of the Pakistani government, Imran Khan, had decided to summon the French ambassador to Islamabad to inform him of his total fear of these continuing Islamophobic attacks in the European nation. The issue at the time was Macron’s considerations on Islam and more precisely on the issue of religious sacrilege, which had caused considerable indignation in Muslim-majority countries such as Turkey, the Gulf States and Pakistan. This coincided with the beheading of French middle-school teacher Samuel Paty, on 16 October in a suburb of Paris at the hands of an Islamic terrorist.

The question of blasphemy against Muhammad has been the cause of great tensions for a long time, even after the attack on Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015. And though Macron is a firm supporter of inclusive religious openness, he believes it is absurd that “a religious ideology may hold its laws higher than those of the French Republic”. In February, the French Foreign Ministry met in Paris with the highest Pakistani diplomat accredited to France after Pakistani President Arif Alvi accused France of isolating its Muslim minority through a bill to combat extremism Islamist and other forms of radicalization.

The crisis of the government

Added to this rather turbulent international context is also the crisis of the government of Imran Kahn following the defeat of his finance minister at the polls. It is clear that his government is worn down internally: the opposition continues its strong campaign of criticism of a highly inadequate economic policy and particularly for not having kept the promise of creating an Islamic social state. Thanks to the pandemic, the poorest population is the one most affected by the economic crisis, exacerbated by an increase in the prices of many food staples.

The words of the Pakistani leader on 19 April are another indication of how Imran Kahn no longer has control of the situation in his country. On that occasion, the Pakistani Prime Minister warned that the interruption of relations with France could endanger Pakistan’s exports to the European Union after weeks of violent protests in the country. In addition, the party of Tehrik-e-Labaik (TLP), a religious group of the extreme right leading the protests, has called for the expulsion of the French ambassador following President Macron’s defence of freedom of speech last July. The request for the expulsion of the French ambassador came after the arrest of the same leader of the TLP, since the anti-French demonstrators had blocked the main cities and highways and burned public property.

However, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Tuesday that the government has agreed “after long negotiations with the TLP” to submit a resolution to parliament about expelling the top diplomat, resulting in a temporary halt to the group’s protests. All the criminal proceedings against the TLP were also withdrawn as a result of the agreement with the group, but following a tabling of the resolution on the ambassador’s expulsion, the violent protests resumed. France has, therefore, advised its citizens to leave Pakistan temporarily. The apparent acceptance by the government of at least some of the demands of the militants of the TLP is a great victory for the Islamists and the country is left to weather a complicated storm in which it is divided between a ferocious crisis and protests that do not seem to have an end.