Pakistan Parliament to Resume Debate on French Envoy's Expulsion

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's parliament will resume debating the fate of the French ambassador Friday after the government appeared, for now, to put a lid on bloody anti-France protests that rocked the country for a week.

A resolution calls for debate on whether to expel the French envoy, for the national assembly to condemn Western blasphemy, for Muslim nations to unite on the issue, and for authorities to provide space in cities for future protests. The resolution -- put forward privately by a member of the ruling party -- will likely be replaced by a more strongly worded one from the opposition, but will nevertheless be non-binding. Still, it appears to have taken the steam out of an anti-France campaign waged for months by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) since President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of a satirical magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed - an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.