PESHAWAR:
While statements condemning Railway Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour’s call for a bounty on the filmmaker of ‘Innocent of Muslims’ came pouring in from all parts of the world, Pakistan on Monday also officially disowned the dissident announcement.
Bilour on Saturday announced a bounty of $100,000 on the head of the amateur film’s creator and said he would kill the man himself if given the chance. He also invited the Taliban and al Qaeda to take part in the “noble deed.”
The statement immediately set off a storm of reactions and the prime minister’s spokesman clarified a day later that the opinions were “personal” and did not reflect the government’s views.
The Foreign Office also released an official statement on Monday saying: “It (the bounty call) was representative of Bilour’s personal views and had nothing to do with the official policy of the government of Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the Awami National Party, to which he and Bilour belong, does not endorse the railway minister’s statements. He added that action would be taken against Bilour after consultation with the party’s chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, who is currently abroad.
“The Taliban have killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis and hundreds of ANP workers. How can we take the help of these extremists to kill the producer of this blasphemous film?” asked Mian Iftikhar at an event held to introduce a new medicine for thalassaemia.
Iftikhar said the filmmaker had violated basic human rights by playing with the sentiments of millions of Muslims across the world, but should be tried and punished under international laws.
Worldwide condemnation
The government and Bilour’s party are not the only ones to find the minister’s bounty call deplorable. “It is important for responsible leaders to stand up and speak out against violence,” said a US State Department official. “Therefore we find Bilour’s announcement is inflammatory and inappropriate.”
The European Union also expressed its dissatisfaction. “We deplore the call for a bounty,” Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, told a press briefing.
“We are particularly concerned that this call should come from a member of the government even if the prime minister has dissociated himself” from the remarks, Mann added.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while sharply criticizing the film, urged restraint over provocative statements.
“We condemn any type of extremism,” he said. “We also believe that this must also be resolved in a humane atmosphere, in a participatory environment and we do not like anyone losing their lives or being killed for any reason, anywhere in the world.” (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.
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Whatever he said,whatever he doing,the fact is that he a true Muslim.
ok..is pakistan disowns..it must be true...hahhahaahh