Pakistan orders social media shutdown after violent protests

Sites banned temporarily amid anti-France sentiment among supporters of radical party

Local leaders of Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan, a radical Islamist party, attend a protest against the arrest of party leader Saad Rizvi, in Lahore on April 15, 2021. AP Photo

Pakistan's government on Friday ordered a shutdown of social media and instant messaging platforms after days of violent anti-France protests.

In a notice to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the Interior Ministry requested a "complete blocking" of Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Telegram until 3pm.

It gave no reason for the ban, but it came a day after French citizens and companies in Pakistan were advised by their embassy to temporarily leave after rallies led by an extremist party paralysed large parts of the country and left two police officers dead.

Political parties frequently use social media to rally supporters and the announcement came just before Friday prayers, which usually draw huge crowds to mosques where firebrand sermons in the past catalysed protests.

Pakistan authorities in the past used strategic social media bans and cuts to mobile service in an attempt to head off major protests by preventing leaders from issuing mass calls for demonstrations.

Thousands of Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) supporters took to the streets on Monday after their leader was detained for calling for the expulsion of the French ambassador.

Anti-French sentiment has been festering for months in Pakistan since President Emmanuel Macron threw his support behind a satirical magazine's right to republish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed – an act considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's government has struggled to bring Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan to heel over the years, but this week announced an outright ban against the group, effectively labelling it a terrorist organisation.

Extra security personnel are posted at the French embassy, which is inside a guarded diplomatic enclave closed to the public, and shipping containers were placed around its outer wall as fortifications.

The protests were largely cleared. But in Lahore, supporters continued a sit-in at a religious school that serves as the TLP party headquarters despite the circulation of a handwritten plea from leader Saad Rizvi to end the protests.

The TLP is known for holding lengthy, violent road protests over blasphemy issues, causing major disruption to the country.

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.

Francophobia erupted in autumn last year when the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo republished cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.

Mr Macron's subsequent defence of free speech triggered anger in the Muslim world, with tens of thousands in Pakistan, neighbouring Iran and other Muslim countries flooding the streets and organising anti-French boycotts.

At the time, TLP supporters brought the capital Islamabad to a standstill.