KARACHI, 2 March 2006 — The ruling Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) condemned the publication of the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) cartoons in European media and urged its allies in the coalition government to take this sensitive issue to the United Nations.

“Today’s convention of the MQM’s labor division condemns the publication of sacrilegious cartoons and demands President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz take up this issue in the United Nations to reflect the shock and grief of the Muslims, which they suffered in the aftermath,” said a resolution passed by the MQM’s labor division in its 19th annual convention, which the party’s leader based in London presided over via telephone.

Meanwhile, the federal government yesterday said it would take up the issue of the cartoons with US President George W. Bush.

Bush is expected in Islamabad tomorrow for talks with Pakistani leaders on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

“President Pervez Musharraf will apprise Bush of the outrage caused by the publication of the sacrilegious drawings in the European media,” Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri told a press briefing after a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).

He said that the NSC, chaired by Musharraf, focused on the one-point agenda: The publication of cartoons and initiatives being taken by Pakistan to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.

The NSC met two days ahead of a call given by the Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) for a countrywide strike and anti-cartoon protests on tomorrow. At least five people have been killed so far in violent protests all over Pakistan.

“Gen. Musharraf will also underscore the need to bridge the gap between civilizations through dialogue,” Kasuri said.

Bush’s visit, the second by a US president to Pakistan in the last six years, takes place amid unusually high security. Government officials have not yet disclosed the dates of the president’s visit.

Former US President Bill Clinton had made a brief stopover in March 2000 when no vehicular or pedestrian traffic was allowed on main roads in the capital during his less than six-hour stay in the capital.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam, had Monday told reporters that counterterrorism and cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy would be on the agenda with Bush. — Additional input from DPA.