LAHORE, Sept 21: Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Syed Munawwar Hasan said on Friday that had President Asif Zardari and the members of federal cabinet led the protesters, the loss of life and property could have been averted.

“The cowardice of the rulers and their slavery to the West is the prime reason for the public wrath,” he said while addressing a Friday congregation at Mansoora.

He urged the Muslim rulers to stop defending the US and the West and instead present themselves as representatives of Islam and the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him).

Mr Hasan said the West had already been “defeated by Islam in the fields of academics and culture” and was left with no argument.

“Therefore, it is trying to thrust its satanic civilisation on the world by force and all those who challenge it were being attacked on frivolous charges,” the Jamaat chief said.

pml-q: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain and Deputy Prime Minister Pervaiz Elahi have urged the United Nations and the West not to put Islamic world’s patience to more tests and pay immediate attention to the Muslims’ protest against anti-Islam film.

“The culprits should be given exemplary punishment for committing blasphemy and effective legislation should be introduced on international level to prevent such heinous acts in future,” they said in a statement here on Friday.

They said the Muslims were followers of peace but they could not tolerate any blasphemous act and disrespect to the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him). They said the Islamic countries should also adopt a unanimous strategy in response to the protests by their people.

The PML-Q leadership said blasphemy against any religion, faith and their respectable personalities was not only the worst kind of extremism but also an open act of terrorism. Impunity for such acts gave rise to religious extremism, they added. — Staff Reporter