Why Pakistan is on the boil again | 10 points

The clashes between Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan workers and the police in Pakistan have their roots in caricatures published in France last year.

Pakistan is witnessing violent clashes again between Islamists and the government. In the latest development, members of banned Islamist party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) clashed with the police and several people are feared dead in Lahore. The clashes erupted in Lahore on Sunday when the TLP workers took a number of police personnel hostage. Pakistan minister Sheikh Rashid later issued a video statement, saying the hostages had been freed. The government used force against the TLP workers, irking other Islamist groups, who responded with a call for intensifying the agitation.