ISLAMABAD, 8 February 2006 — The outrage against the cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) yesterday spread in Pakistan with Chief Minister Akram Durrani of the country’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) demanding the central government to sever diplomatic ties with the European countries involved in the controversy.
Thousands of ptotesters shouted “Hang the cartoonists” during fresh protests against newspaper.
Nearly 3,000 people attended a rally in Peshawar called by the Islamist government which borders Afghanistan, police and witnesses said.
Chief Minister Durrani and his Cabinet ministers led the demonstration, which follows days of angry protests throughout the Islamic world.
“All Islamic countries should suspend their diplomatic ties with Denmark till it offers apologies to every single Muslim for hurting their sentiments,” Durrani told the rally.
The cartoons were first printed in a Danish daily and have since appeared in newspapers in a number of other countries, mostly in Europe. Muslims regard the drawings as blasphemous.
The chief minister also called for the International Court of Justice to intervene as the publication of the cartoons threatened to spark off a “clash of civilizations.”
Durrani’s pro-Taleban government took power in 2002 and tried to implement a strict Islamic code in the province.
Demonstrators in Peshawar waved placards reading: “Listen Jews, Muslims are united” and “Expel Western diplomats.” The crowd also chanted “Jihad (holy war), Jihad” and “Death to Denmark.”
Separately in Pakistan’s remote North Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, some 5,000 tribesmen and students held a protest march and burnt a Danish flag to protest against the cartoons.
Hundreds of militants and troops have died during clashes in the tribal regions over the last two years and there were mass protests in January after a CIA airstrike targeting Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader killed 18 people.
“Hand over those people who committed blasphemy to us, we will punish them ourselves,” local student leader Ayaz Khan told the rally.
In Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of quake-hit Pakistani-administered Kashmir, some 300 students and about 80 lawyers held two separate rallies to protest against cartoons.
Meanwhile, some traders in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi went on strike in protest against the cartoons, while in the capital Islamabad a journalists union held a rally in front of the Danish Embassy.
Lawyers also went on strike in several central Pakistani districts to protest against the cartoons and hoisted black flags above their offices.
The Roman Catholic bishop of the central city of Multan, Andrew Francis, slammed the Danish government and media for printing the drawings.
“I condemn the publication of caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad as freedom of expression does not permit hurting people’s feelings,” Francis said.
