Pakistan to outlaw Islamist group after violent protests -interior minister

Pakistan will outlaw a hardline Islamist group after two police officers were killed in violent protests it orchestrated over the publication in France of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, interior minister Sheikh Rashid said on Wednesday.

Tehrik-i-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), which has made the denunciation of blasphemy against Islam its rallying cry, has held three days of violent protests in which more than 100 police officers have been hurt. It is demanding the government expel the French ambassador and endorse a boycott of French products.

"We have decided to ban the TLP," Rashid told reporters in Islamabad.