Pakistan will charge the detained leaders of a hard-line Islamist group with terrorism and sedition, the government said on December 1.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the leader of the Tehrik-e Labaik (TLP) party, cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, and two other TLP leaders have been booked under the charges, which could carry a life prison term.

Rizvi and more than 3,000 of his supporters were arrested during violent demonstrations following the October 31 acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case.

Rizvi and the other TLP leaders are accused of inciting violence and making incendiary comments about the judiciary and the military.

With reporting by Dawn and AP