UPDATE 2-Pakistan bans Islamist party after deadly clashes

(Updates throughout on party's response and its stance on blasphemy, Gaza and Israel, background) By Asif Shahzad ISLAMABAD, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Pakistan banned an Islamist party for the second time in four years on Thursday, a week after five people died in clashes between its members and police. Followers of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party took to the streets for an anti-Israel protest march ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a ceasefire deal to end the Gaza war. Pakistan's cabinet unanimously approved the ban, the government said in a statement. "The TLP is involved in terrorist and violent activities," it added. The group said it rejected the ban, calling it "unconstitutional, vindictive, illegal and dictatorial" in a statement. The Sunni Muslim organisation was launched as a pressure group at the funeral of a police guard who had killed a provincial governor accused of blasphemy in 2011. It got into politics in 2016 and became the fourth largest party after securing more than two million votes in 2018 elections. The TLP has held regular mass rallies, predominantly focused on religious and political issues ranging from Gaza to caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad published in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. The party was banned by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2021 after violent protests. The order was lifted within six months on condition that the party stop using violence. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Human rights groups say the blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores. Many people have been lynched after accusations of insulting Islam or its prophet. (Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Ed Osmond and Andrew Heavens)

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