Lahore students rally against blasphemous sketches
LAHORE: A large number of students participated in a rally, organised by the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), on The Mall here on Tuesday and expressed their resentment against the republication of blasphemous caricatures in Danish newspapers and the proposed screening of an anti-Islam film in Holland.
Traffic was suspended on the route of the rally for over two hours while a traffic mess was seen on various adjacent roads, creating problems for traffic wardens and passengers.
The rally, in which students from several colleges and universities of the city participated, started from the Punjab University Old Campus and culminated at the Masjid-e-Shuhada near the Regal Chowk.
IJT Nazim-e-Aala Muhammad Attiq-ur-Rehman, Lahore Nazim Abdul Basit and PU Nazim Rana Naveed led the rally while Jamaat-e-Islami Lahore Ameer Hafiz Salman Butt joined it near the Masjid-e-Shuhada.
A large number of female students also took part in it.
Carrying banners and placards, the students chanted slogans against Denmark and Holland for their blasphemous acts, demanding of the Pakistan government to end diplomatic and economic ties with both the countries and expel their ambassadors.
The protesters chanted slogans and vowed to completely boycott the Danish and Dutch products besides announcing a public campaign for boycotting products of both the countries.
The students, besides setting ablaze national flags of Denmark and Holland, also set on fire an effigy of the cartoonist.
Addressing the rally, Hafiz Salman Butt, Attiq-ur-Rehman and others said the students would continue their protest until the government severed diplomatic and economic ties with the countries involved in the blasphemous acts.
He also demanded a trial of those responsible for sacrilegious acts in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Lahore Bar Association President Manzoor Qadir also addressed the rally. Special security arrangements had been made by the police.
The IJT has announced a protest rally outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday (today).
Source: The News
Date:3/19/2008
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