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Govt joins anti-film protest

ISLAMABAD — The government has decided to join demonstrators on Friday to protest against the anti-Islam film made by a rogue American that has caused outrage throughout the Muslim world, Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira announced here on Wednesday after cabinet meeting.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf, further decided a day of mourning and a public holiday on Friday when religious and political parties have decided to organise countrywide demonstrators to protest against the blasphemous film. The government has already blocked YouTube in the country which carried video on its site.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Kaira said the offensive film remained the only agenda item to express solidarity with the people of Pakistan in general and Islamic world who have been outraged by the blasphemous film. An “Ishq-e-Rasool” (Love Prophet) conferences will be held in Islamabad on Friday to be participated by scholars and religious leaders from all over the country to express devotion to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
A resolution adopted at the meeting also appealed to the people to keep their protests peaceful in order to convey a “dignified and determined” resolve by them to the world community that nothing sacrilegious against Islam and the Holy Prophet would be tolerated.
Meanwhile, frenzied protest demonstrations continued all over the country. In Islamabad, a rally by lawyers broke through barriers to enter the Diplomatic Enclave but were held off by the police from reaching the US Embassy. The lawyers burned effigies of the producers and shouted anti-US slogans before dispersing peacefully.
In Lahore, authorities placed containers to block entry to the US consulate while police stopped a protest procession organised by right wing Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing.
The film has fuelled outrage across the Muslim world. Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have all blocked access to YouTube, following the video-sharing website’s failure to take down the movie.
The head of a leading Sunni party, the Sunni Tehreek, on Monday urged people across the country to close their businesses and hold rallies against the film.
Sources said traders and transporters associations in the largest city and commercial hub Karachi had backed the call.
Around 500 protesting lawyers broke through a gate to Islamabad’s heavily-guarded diplomatic enclave on Wednesday, chanting anti-US slogans and castigating the Pakistan government for failing to take strong action against the film.
A US flag was laid on the ground and the protesting lawyers walked over it one by one. Later they burnt the flag before the rally ended peacefully.
Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and Bangladesh, blocked video-sharing website YouTube this week after it failed to remove the offensive film.
news@khaleejtimes.com
(With inputs from AFP)

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