ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday ordered the interior ministry to effectively deal with the law and order situation which was deteriorating because of agitations against the publication of blasphemous cartoons in some European newspapers, a government source said.

“The interior ministry should give a guideline to the provinces to control the situation,” a source quoted the prime minister as saying. He was presiding over a meeting held after the countrywide demonstrations and the killing of two people in Lahore.

The source said after the prime minister’s directives, the interior ministry called a meeting of home secretaries and inspectors-general of police of all the provinces on Wednesday in the ministry to chalk out a joint strategy for maintaining law and order.

The prime minister said that the people of Pakistan were not aware of the steps so far taken by the government to condemn the publication of blasphemous cartoons at international level. Mr Aziz directed the information ministry to publicise the government’s stand on the issue through press and electronic media.

The source quoted the prime minister as saying: “Norway has tendered an apology but it has not been properly projected by the media.”

Meanwhile, an official of the interior ministry said that the government expected more agitations in the provinces, especially in Lahore on Wednesday.

The official feared that killing of two protesters in Lahore could further aggravate the situation.