Traders protest against controversial caricatures
HYDERABAD: Businessmen, traders and shopkeepers kept their business closed for several hours and held protest rallies outside the local press club on Wednesday against publication of controversial caricatures in a French newspaper.
They took out rallies from different areas to converge at the local press club.
The protesters burnt an effigy of France and raised slogans against it.
They urged the government to coordinate with other Muslim countries and ensure that some law on this issue was put in place.
The protest was organised under the aegis of Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) and Anjuman Tajiran Action Committee. The bodies that supported the protest included Anjuman Tajiran Shahi Bazar; Anjuman Tajiran Resham Bazaar; Grain, Seed, Oil and Merchant Group; Anjuman Tajiran Tilak Chari; Sarafa and Jewellers Group; Anjuman Dukandaran City College Road; Hyderabad Iron and Steel Merchant; Sheermal Hotel, Restaurant Association and Ittehad Ahle Sunnat-o-Jamaat.
The protesters carried different placards and banners inscribed with slogans against cartoons and in support of Islam. Markets in different areas including Faqir Ka Pir, Cloth Market and Motorcycle Market remained closed for around three to four hours.
After the protest, they resumed normal trade activities.
Those who addressed the protest included HCCI representatives Abdul Qayyum Nusrat, Ziauddin, Saleem Vohra, Anwar Kundan, Fareed Chundrigar, Yusuf Memon, Abid Dahalvi and Mahmood Rajput.
They said the West continued to hurt Muslims in the name of right to freedom of expression.
They said it was quite immoral that one should keep insulting others in the name of such limitless freedom of journalism.
They said Muslim rulers should have called a meeting of all Islamic states to discuss this issue and adopt a line of action. They said the governments in those countries feared that their diplomatic relations would be affected or they would lose power, therefore, they were reluctant to do such a thing.
They demanded that the Muslim countries take some initiative to ensure some legislation at the world level to check blasphemy.
They condemned silence of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Untied Nations and Muslim rulers on the caricatures issue.
Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2015
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