Government disassociates self from bounty on anti-Islam filmmaker

Railway Minister Bilour had announced a $100,000 bounty for filmmaker's head.

ISLAMABAD: The government distanced itself Sunday from a $100,000 bounty offered by a Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour for the death of the maker of the anti-Islam film that has sparked protests across the Muslim world.

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour invited members of the Taliban and al Qaeda to take part in the "noble deed", and said given the chance he would kill the film-maker with his own hands.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf rejected Bilour's comments, made on Saturday, a day after angry protests across Pakistan against the Innocence of Muslims left 21 people dead and more than 200 injured.

"This is not government policy. We completely dissociate (ourselves) from this," Shafqat Jalil told AFP.