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COPENHAGEN, Feb 19: Denmark said on Sunday that its ambassador in Pakistan had temporarily returned home because he could not work after violent protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) first published in the Nordic country.
The foreign ministry said that Danes in Pakistan who need help should apply to the German embassy. “The Danish ambassador in Pakistan, Bent Wigotski, has returned temporarily to Denmark because it is practically impossible for him to do his job under the current circumstances,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
Lars Thuesen, director general of Denmark’s consulate service, said that the departure of the ambassador was not a diplomatic issue.
“He has left the country for security reasons, he has not been withdrawn for consultations,” Mr Thuesen said.
On Friday, Denmark temporarily closed the embassy because of security concerns and issued a new travel warning for Pakistan, urging Danes there to leave as soon as possible.
The Danish ambassador stayed at a secure location before he left the country, Mr Thuesen said.
He added that there were no expatriate consulate staff left in Pakistan, but that around 100 Danes had chosen to remain in the country despite the protests.
APOLOGY: A Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper printed on Sunday a full-page apology from Jyllands-Posten, the Danish daily that first published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) unleashing a wave of fury by Muslims worldwide.
It was the strongest expression of regret yet from the paper, but stopped short of explicitly saying sorry for printing the cartoons themselves, instead apologising for the turmoil caused in their aftermath.
“These drawings apparently hurt millions of Muslims around the world, so we now offer our apology and deep regret for what happened because it is far from the paper’s intention,” said the statement titled “Apology” in big bold letters addressed to Muslim citizens and printed in Asharq al-Awasat.
It was signed by the paper’s editor-in-chief Carsten Juste and was also posted in Arabic on Jyllands-Posten’s website under a link titled “A new formulation for the apology.”
“We did not set out to offend or insult any religion. We apologise for being misunderstood and reiterate that we did not intend to target anyone ... I hope this clears the misunderstanding and God bless,” said the statement.—Agencies
