KARACHI: With parts of the country and majority of the Muslim countries protesting against the anti-Islam movie, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has asked the United Nations to step in and take action against blasphemous material.
Party Secretary General Arif Alvi and Central President Javed Hashmi criticised the government at a press conference on Tuesday, for not taking proper action to control the situation.
While the party chairperson, Imran Khan, visited the flood-affected areas in upper Sindh, the party’s remaining top leadership, Alvi and Hashmi, were in Karachi to condemn the inflammatory video.
They said that the Pakistani government should ask the UN and other countries to move a resolution for an international legislation against acts that harm religious sentiments and disturb world peace.
“Our government should make an effort to control ‘Islamophobia’,” said Alvi. “Such actions should be considered as hate crimes as they are increasing every year.”
The leaders pointed out that the government should have negotiated the same agreement as India and Malaysia with Google which allows them to ask the company to block particular contents when necessary.
“PTI wrote a letter to Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairperson and owner of YouTube, to immediately remove the videos,” Alvi informed the media. “Pornographic images and videos, jihadi training or bomb-making videos are not allowed by the company on its website.
“They should have the same policy for religious material.”
The leaders clarified that they wanted such laws to apply to all religions and that prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam should be considered off limits by all.
“There is freedom of expression in the West but they still have rules,” said Alvi, asking for an urgent meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Countries.
The party plans to organise peaceful rallies throughout Pakistan on Friday.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2012.
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" the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf has asked the United Nations to step in and take action. Why don't they ask uno to take action on grave human rights voilation in Pakistan too? Minorities are being butchered on daily basis and killers are being justified by these'champions' for reason known better to them.
Will there be any rallies against the killing of muslims (shias, ahmadis, bohris, baluchistanis, hazaras, or just plain bystanders), not to say minorities like christians and hindus?