Pakistan, April 16 -- The day Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, was in Germany to hold talks with his counterpart on enhancing economic ties and present his country's ambitious 'geoeconomics' agenda - something sinister occurred back home.

The entire state was held hostage in a matter of minutes when far-right extremist group TLP's (Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan) leader Saad Rizvi was arrested without any countermeasures in place. In hindsight, it was obviously a blunder, especially since the state knew what kind of blowback was to be expected given the party's recent record.

The TLP's current standoff with the state dates back to the end of last year after alleged blasphemous cartoons that led to the beheading of a school...