Lahore witnessed violent clashes and Islamabad has been turned into a fortress. Behind the tense situation in Pakistan is a far-right Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). What is interesting is that the Labbaik is considered a proxy of the Pakistani military establishment, which has used this street force to corner civilian governments and push the Islamic republic into a theocratic state that follows the rule of Sharia. Time and again, the Labbaik has held Pakistan hostage with its protest marches and brute force.
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Hundreds of thousands of Labbaik supporters attempted to march to the US Embassy in Islamabad on Friday to protest the killings in Gaza. That at a time the world was celebrating the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after a two-year war.
Roads were sealed with containers, barricades were erected, and internet services suspended. This came a day after the TLP clashed with security forces in Lahore, which resulted in the death of two and injury to dozens
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