ISLAMABAD, Feb 15: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appealed in the National Assembly on Wednesday for a halt to violence during protests against blasphemous cartoons published in some European countries and invited the opposition to advise the government on how to tackle what he called a religious issue for the whole Muslim world.
In what turned out to be another lengthy debate on the matter that will continue on Thursday, opposition parties generally agreed with the need for peace though they blamed the ruling coalition’s policies, particularly those of the Punjab government, for two consecutive days of violence.
But the most ardent support for the cause of peace came from the People’s Party Parliamentarians, whose main speaker Aitzaz Ahsan called for a ‘cooling down period’ and urged the leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal to call off their joint call for a strike on March 3.
The prime minister, who came to the house after an uproar marked by opposition slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, said the government had reacted quickly against what he called the ‘intolerable blasphemy’ after the objectionable cartoons were first carried by a Danish newspaper in September and reprinted in some other countries last month because they hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world.
He acknowledged that the repeated protests across the country reflected the sentiment of the nation but said: “Now we have to find a solution to this problem.”
“I appeal to the whole Pakistani nation to express their sentiments in a peaceful atmosphere,” he said, adding that destruction of property — witnessed during the violent protests on Tuesday and Wednesday mainly in Punjab and the NWFP — would do no good.
While expressing his confidence that a solution to the situation would be found, the prime minister warned of ‘severest action’ against those engaging in what he called sabotage.
Mr Aziz informed the house of several proposals that he said had been approved by the Organization of Islamic Conference on Wednesday to tackle the issue at the international level, and asked for the opposition’s cooperation in chalking out the future course of action.
“I invite the opposition to help evolve a course of action to solve the problem without letting any harm (come to the country),” he said.
But the prime minister, who elaborated his views about the situation in a talk to reporters later in his chamber in the parliament building, did not specify any framework for the proposed consultation with the opposition, several of whose members spoke later before the house adjourned until Thursday morning.
Mr Aziz said the set of proposals that the OIC had decided to make included asking the European Union to take steps and make laws to prevent repetition of such blasphemy in the future, moving resolutions by the OIC and the EU together in the United Nations for action against such violations, a review of the code of conduct for press freedom in the EU countries and asking the UN to frame an ‘international communication order’ regarding religious matters.
Mr Ahsan accused the Punjab government of not deploying enough police to deal with the protesters and said he thought it was “responsible for what has happened” there.
“The Punjab government has subverted the image of Pakistan,” he said as he compared the provincial government’s crackdowns against the PPP in the past with the perceived laxity on Tuesday.
Mr Ahsan condemned the violence and destruction of property. Referring to the March 3 strike called by a ‘national consultative meting’ held here on Feb 11 by MMA and PML leaders, he said: “I shiver to think of what will happen on that day.” But he added that he wished no violence should happen.
He called for change of plans and said time should be allowed for “tempers to cool down”.
Mr Ahsan’s call for a ‘cooling down period’ was backed by two members of the ruling party, Farooq Aqdas Meer of the so-called ‘forward bloc’ and M.P. Bhandara.
Earlier, Khwaja Saad Rafiq of the PML (Nawaz) accused the Punjab government of getting a news story published in a section of the press that blamed him and deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly Rana Sanaullah for a fire that broke out in the provincial assembly building in Lahore on Tuesday.
Mr Rafiq said he and Mr Sanaullah would resign from their assembly seats if the charges were proved and described the reports against them as a possible precursor to their political victimization.
But Law and Justice Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar assured the house that no action would be taken against anybody on the basis of a ‘wrong accusation’.
“It is against the government’s policy to target anybody,” he said.
Opposition members chanted “go Musharraf go” and thumped their desks in protest when Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain did not allow them to speak on points of order at the start of the proceedings and went ahead with the first question hour of the present session that began on Feb 3.
A total of 16 questions were put on the agenda, but they were disposed of in less than five minutes as the chair declared the written replies ‘taken as read’ and nobody asked any supplementary question because of the opposition’s uproar, which ended when the house was adjourned for a prayer break.
