Khadim Hussain Rizvi

On 6 November 2017, Rizvi organized a long march from Lahore to Islamabad to press for the resignation of the Law Minister regarding an ill-motive change, to favor Qadianis, in bill of "2017 Election of Pakistan".[8][9][10] Rizvi soon began receiving support from public, other religious political parties and other segments of society, making way for mushroom growth of protests nationwide.[1][11] The general public took the same demand of resignation of the Law Minister to the streets[1] Thereafter, total shutdown began, and the government ultimately responded with a forced shutdown of all news channels, followed by blocking social media networks, to contain the situation and the flow of information. This created mayhem and confusion in the cities of Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore along with some others in Punjab. Finally, by late evening the army chief intervened and asked "both sides" to show restraint.[1]

On 31 October 2018, after eight years of detention and conviction by all the lower courts, a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy, was found innocent in a landmark Supreme Court verdict.[12] The final judgment said that one of Bibi's accusers violated the Ashtiname of Muhammad, a "covenant made by Prophet Muhammad with Christians in the seventh century but still valid today".[13] Justice Asif Saeed Khosa ruled that the two women who made accusations against Asia Bibi "had no regard for the truth" and that the claim that she blasphemed Prophet Muhammad in public was a "concoction incarnate".[14] The Supreme Court of Pakistan's ruling cited "material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses" that "cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution's version of facts."[13]

This prompted the TLP, under the leadership of Rizvi to initiate demonstrations in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan. Clashes with police were reported. A leader of TLP, Muhammad Afzal Qadri, said all three Supreme Court judges "deserve to be killed". The Red Zone in the capital, Islamabad, where the Supreme Court is located, was sealed off by the police.[15] In public speeches, Rizvi demanded that Aasia should be subjected to the punishment for blasphemy under Pakistan's penal code. He was quoted saying, "Our sit-in will go on until the government accepts our demand" denying reports that the sit-in would soon be over.[16]. He would later be arrested on 23 November 2018 along with other TLP leaders[17] and then subsequently released on bail in May 2019[18]

In March 2019, a third year student at Bahawalpur's Government Sadiq Egerton College, Khateeb Hussain, stabbed associate professor Khalid Hameed in a fatal encounter.[19] Khateeb Hussain was in contact with Zafar Gillani, a lawyer and senior member of the TLP prior to the murder, and obtained approval for the act over Whatsapp. The supposed motive for the killing was blasphemous and insulting rhetoric towards Islam, however, no evidence was provided for this allegation.[20]

In 2018, Sareer Ahmed, the principal of Islamia College in Charsadda, was murdered by a 17-year old student who he had reprimanded for missing a number of classes. The student accused the professor of engaging in "blasphemy" for reprimanding him for skipping class to attend rallies held by the TLP.[21]

Both students stated that they were inspired by Rizvi.[22]

In 2020, Rizvi promoted protests on the release of the Pakistani film Zindagi Tamasha. He accused film-maker Sarmad Khoosat of blasphemy. The material he alleged to be blasphemous includes criticism of ulama and an alleged reference to bacha bazi.[23] Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif, who had seen both the censored and uncensored versions of the film, denied that any criticism of ulama was contained in the movie.[24] However, according to many, it targeted the majority community of Pakistan, having the potential to lead to massive and possibly destructive protests for which it was banned by the state.

Supporters of Rizvi were quick to point out that suggesting criticism of ulama is blasphemous, may in itself constitute blasphemy as it implies ulama hold sacred or holy rank. Rizvi was also criticized for using charges of blasphemy to prevent criticism of religious fundamentalism. No charges against Rizvi have been filed at this point for engaging in blasphemy.[23] A petition against TLP was subsequently filed by Irfan Ali Khoosat, director of Khoosat Films.[25]