Massive rally demands legislation against blasphemy

* Hundreds of protesters rally against sacrilegious film

* Call for economic boycott of West

Staff Report

LAHORE: Hundreds of protesters at ‘Shan-e-Mustafa [PBUH] Rally’ on Sunday demanded world leaders formulate laws against blasphemous and sacrilegious acts.

The rally, organised by Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen against a blasphemous movie made in the US, was attended by hundreds of people from different walks of life.

Protesters first gathered at Nasir Bagh and then marched towards Charing Cross on The Mall.

Protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with different slogans against the filmmaker and US government. They shouted slogans such as “Down with America” and “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the reverence of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)”.

They also burnt a US flag and an effigy of pastor Terry Jones.

Addressing protesters, speakers demanded exemplary punishment for the filmmaker and urged the Muslim world to get united on the issue. They vowed to sacrifice their lives for the sanctity of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). They also asked Muslim rulers to discontinue their ties with America.

Other religious parties who participated in the protest rally included Imamia Students Organisation and Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran. A heavy contingent of police was deployed along the route to avert any untoward incident.

Meanwhile, hundreds of women and children from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Women’s Wing staged a massive a rally in the city to condemn the blasphemous film.

A resolution adopted on the occasion called for an apology from the US on recurring acts of blasphemy. It said that if the US did not apologise “the Muslim world should go for a complete economic boycott of the West, stop supplying oil to the West and withdraw its money from the US and western banks”.

JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch in his address called upon the US and western countries to make necessary legislation to stop recurrence of blasphemous acts.

He also urged Muslim rulers to announce economic boycott of all those countries who are involved in such blasphemies.

Baloch said that the US and European countries “have got used to desecration of the Holy Quran and blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). This hurts the sentiments of Muslims around the world”.

He said that such a “satanic practice” in the name of freedom of expression must come to an end. He said the western world had failed to provide peace and prosperity to the world and people were finding shelter in Islam.

Baloch said the US had chosen a disastrous path and this would “hasten its destruction”.

JI Women’s Wing Secretary General Dr Rukhsana Jabeen said that the West had thrown a challenge to the Muslim world under the US patronage. “The US is fully patronising sick minds involved in blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” she added.

She also deplored the silence of Muslim rulers on the issue. Begum Aisha Munawar and JI Women’s Wing provincial chief Sakeena Shahid also spoke on the occasion.

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