Demonstrations were staged by the political parties and school children against the blasphemous film on the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in various cities of the country, including Peshawar, Khyber Agency, Quetta and many others on Saturday calling upon the government to break diplomatic and economic relations with United States and appeal to Muslim Ummah to boycott Jews/American products.
In Peshawar, strongly condemning the US and Jewish lobby for sacrilegious film, the infuriated protestors asked the government to sever diplomatic ties with America and raise the issue at international level in the United Nation’s summit. The religious parties including Jamiat Itehadul Ulama (JIU) Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ulema Wing, Pakistan Rah-e-Haq (PRH) party and Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam (JUI) held separate protest demonstrations in Peshawar.
The JI Ulema Wing and JIU KP chapter took out a procession from Al-Markaz Islami and staged a protest at main GT Road. The protestors were led by JIU provincial chief Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali. Qari Ahmad Saeed, Maulana Ghulamur Rahman, Haroonur Rashid and Israrullah advocate were holding banners and placards inscribed with anti-US and anti-Israel slogans. Amid sloganeering the activists were waving off their party flags.
Addressing on the occasion, JUI provincial Ameer Maulana Abdul Akbar said that the US and its Jewish lobby through its mean tactics and heinous acts of mocking the Holy Prophets and the divine religion Islam, hurt the feelings of millions of Muslim across the world. He said that it was not the first time the US and its allies had insulted Islam and the Holy Book, he added.
He asked the international community to play their role and immediately block the contemptuous film and hang the culprit down for this heinous crime. He also asked the US to apologize to the Muslim Ummah for this act; otherwise, the US embassies and consulates across the world would be unsafe. He also urged the Pakistani government to expel the US ambassador and cutoff diplomatic relation with the US. The protestors also set on fire the US national flag as a protest and vowed to render all kind of sacrifices to protect the sanctity of the Holy Prophet and religion Islam. Meanwhile, dozens of activists of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party, the former banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, group took out a rally from Landi Arbab and reached Nauthia Phatak. The participants of the rally led by its central president Ibrahim Qasmi and Aminul Haq were holding protesting banners and chanted slogans against the America and Israel.
Addressing the protestors they said that it was time for the Muslims to wake up and render sacrifices for the sake of religion and the last Prophet of Almighty Allah. He also regretted that today our own Muslim army was safeguarding the Americans in the US consulate at Peshawar. The government should expel the US diplomats forthwith. “Making this blasphemous film is not the first attempt,” he said, adding earlier they had also burnt the Holy Quran as well. He asked the government to halt the Nato supply route for American and its allied forces in Afghanistan. Similarly, in a separate statement, the ANP provincial Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour, and Muslim Doctors’ Wing provincial president Dr Noor Khaliq Wazir strongly condemned the controversial film, urged to block the film and execute the culprit.
