February 4, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 5, 1427

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 3: Pakistan on Thursday condemned the publication of blasphemous and derogatory cartoons and caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in Danish and other European newspapers, describing it as “acts of incitement and hatred against Islam and denigrating the beliefs and values of the entire Muslim peoples”.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s debate on the establishment of the new Human Rights Council Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram said publication of such cartoons was a deliberate effort to undermine the human rights of the Muslim people.

Mr Akram deplored the European newspapers’ defiance of Islamic countries’ concern over such derogation, and he termed this trend as “atrocious” and stressed that such provocation with the intention of a clash of civilizations was a deliberate effort to undermine the human rights of the Muslim people.

Mr Akram also voiced strong concern over the expressions such as “radical Islam” which was a denigration of Islam.

He urged the General Assembly that the new Human Rights Council should have the mandate to prevent such incitement which undermined the fundamental rights of Muslim people.

Pakistan’s chief delegate’s call received strong backing and support of a large number of UN member states, including the Republic of Yemen (current Organization of Islamic Conference Chair), Malaysia (current Non-aligned chair), Egypt (Arab League chair), besides Sudan, Iran, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Indonesia.

The representative of the United Kingdom in his statement said that the acts of certain newspapers should not be attributed to the concerned governments in the region. There was general support for the idea of the Human Rights Council’s role in preventing the acts of intolerance directed against all religions and values.

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