IPT IO N SC R SU B
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 , 2012
7 150 Fils
Iran parades military, warans Israel
THULQADA 6 , 1433 AH
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No: 15576
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Muslims march in honor of Prophet 17 killed in Pakistan protests • Western missions shut
ISLAMABAD: Fresh protests erupted across the Muslim world yesterday against a US-made film and French cartoons mocking Islam, with violent demonstrations in Pakistan leaving at least 17 people dead. In Middle Eastern and Asian countries tens of thousands took to the streets after the main weekly prayers to vent their anger, with little sign that the angry protests which began last week would abate. Western missions were shut across the Islamic world, fearing further escalation of the backlash over the low-budget film “Innocence of Muslims” that has spread across the world. France, where a magazine this week published a series of cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), has shut embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in 20 Muslim countries, fearing the fury will spread from US targets. Pakistan bore the brunt of the anger yesterday, with huge crowds of demonstrators throwing stones and setting buildings ablaze to See Pages denounce the film. There were clashes in the country’s five largest cities leaving 17 dead and 219 others wounded, as protesters defied government calls for peaceful demonstrations on what was declared a national holiday in honour of Muhammad (PBUH). Two cinemas were also torched and ransacked in the northwestern city of Peshawar, on the edge of tribal belt strongholds of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda. In Karachi, a policeman who died after being shot when officers used tear gas to disperse a crowd near the US consulate was among 10 people killed in the country’s largest city. Five people were killed in Peshawar, including the driver for a TV channel which blamed police for his death. Police and paramilitary troops deployed en masse fired off volleys of tear gas to hold off protesters from breaching barricades that sealed access to Western embassies and consulates. In Islamabad gunshots were also fired outside the five-star Serena Hotel and police baton-charged some 8,000 protesters trying to penetrate the heavilyguarded diplomatic enclave. Protestors threw stones, shouting “Americans are dogs” and “Friends of America are traitors”, while setting fire to an effigy of a nameless American. The government had declared Friday a “day of love for the
Prophet (PBUH)”, but for hours shut down mobile telephone networks in an apparent bid to prevent extremists from exploiting the protests to carry out bomb attacks. “It is our collective responsibility to protest peacefully without causing harm or damage to life or property,” said Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf as shops, markets and petrol stations shut en masse in an unprecedented closure. “If denying the Holocaust is a crime, then is it not fair and legitimate for a Muslim to demand that denigrating and demeaning Islam’s holiest personality is no less than a crime?” Ashraf said in a speech to religious scholars and international diplomats in Islamabad. While the protests turned ugly in Pakistan, in other Muslim countries there was no serious violence during demonstrations. In the Arab world, Sunnis and Shiites took to the streets of Lebanon, while there were also demonstrations in Basra in south Iraq and 12 & 13 in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Tunisia had banned all demonstrations amid fears of violence and Libya’s second city Benghazi braced for rival demonstrations by a jihadist militia and its opponents. In Yemen, where the US embassy was stormed last week, several hundred Shiite protesters chanted anti-American slogans, but riot police blocked the route to the embassy. Lebanon’s Hezbollah-run AlManar television showed thousands of people waving Lebanese and yellow Hezbollah flags as they marched past the Roman ruins of Baalbek and shouted slogans such as “Death to America, death to those who insult the Prophet (PBUH)”. There were also demonstrations across Asia in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Bangladesh, where about 10,000 took to the streets of Dhaka to condemn the film and the French cartoons. US interests bore the brunt of protests against the film. In the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, about 2,000 Muslims burned effigies of Obama and US flags at a protest after Friday prayers, demanding that the US ban the film. Police clamped a daylong curfew in parts of Indian-controlled Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar, and chased away protesters opposing the anti-Islam film. Authorities in the region also temporarily blocked cellphone and Internet services to prevent viewing the film clips. — Agencies
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A Pakistani Muslim demonstrator brandishes a stick near burning police vehicles during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Karachi yesterday. (Inset) A Lebanese girl with writing on her face in Arabic that reads “Oh Muhammad” (PBUH) chants slogans during a demonstration in Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek. — AFP/AP
Makkah imam: Outlaw inciting religious hate MAKKAH: The imam of Makkah yesterday urged that laws be passed to prevent incitement of religious hatred as he reacted to an anti-Islam film and publication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “We call on the world... to enact a code of honour and binding law to prohibit and criminalise any violation of monotheistic religions and prophets,” Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammed Al-Taleb said in his weekly sermon at the Grand Mosque. “Let the politicians and policy makers know that the people express uncontrolled reactions when sacred symbols are humiliated,” he said, urging “the wise” in the West to “prevent those who ignite fires”. “We advocate dialogue, understanding and tolerance, but it will be in vain if we continue to perpetuate hatred... against Islam, the Prophet (PBUH) and the Muslims.” Sheikh Saleh also criticised violent protests by Muslims against the low-budget anti-Islam film pro-
duced in the United States, “Innocence of Muslims”, which have left dozens of people dead. “Muslims must show their kindness in their reactions; it is not kindness to kill innocent people and destroy property,” he said, advising them to “raise awareness of the Prophet (PBUH) using social networks” on the Internet. “Muslims must realise that they do not need fresh incidents to hinder the progress of Islam.” He also criticised the satirical French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing the obscene cartoons. “Since when did freedom of expression mean aggression without limits or restrictions?” he asked, adding: “Why is this freedom of expression not referred to when it comes to denying the Holocaust?” Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites of Islam, has condemned the anti-Islam film and also the resulting violence in several Muslim countries, including attacks against Americans and US institutions. — AFP