World | Pakistan
OIC asks EU to legislate to protect Islam
Citing the jailing of a British historian in Austria for denying the Holocaust, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu here on Tuesday urged Europe to legislate similar safeguards against maligning Islam in the name of freedom of expression.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 February 22, 2006
Islamabad: Citing the jailing of a British historian in Austria for denying the Holocaust, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu here on Tuesday urged Europe to legislate similar safeguards against maligning Islam in the name of freedom of expression.
"We need the same protection from European law," the chief of the 57-nation Islamic body said while talking to reporters following a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Right-wing historian David Irving was sentenced to three years in prison by an Austrian court on Monday on charges he had denied extermination of six millions Jews by the Nazis during World War II.
There "should be no double standards", he said, referring to the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the European newspapers that triggered outrage and violent protests across the Muslim world.
Meanwhile, shopkeepers shut their doors in Barwand town in South Waziristan tribal region to protest the cartoons.
About 2,000 people chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Denmark" as they rallied and burned flags of Denmark, where the caricatures were first printed.
Ihsanoglu said the Muslim community wanted European laws to protect their feelings and sensitivities so that freedom of expression was not abused for mud-slinging on their faith and the Prophet.
Prime Minister Aziz said after the meeting that he had formally requested the secretary-general to convene an extraordinary session of foreign ministers of OIC member states to evolve a common strategy to combat the defamation of Islam.
Aziz said Pakistan would send a bipartisan parliamentary delegation to Brussels to meet members of the European parliament to mobilise support for appropriate legislation against attempts to ridicule religions and prophets. The delegation on its way back would stop at Jeddah to brief the OIC secretary-general about discussions in Brussels.
"We genuinely believe in interfaith harmony and feel Islamophobia will not help the cause of anyone in the world," the prime minister said. Ihsanoglu and Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri also held separate talks on restructuring the OIC and implementing a programme focusing on combating Islamophobia.
With additional inputs from AP
Rally
Parties to join Sunday's protests
Around two dozen political parties have announced their decision to participate in a grand protest rally being taken out by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal on February 26 in Lahore to protest the publication of the Prophet's caricatures in several European newspapers.
The decision was made at a meeting of the National Advisory Council's Lahore chapter. The meeting wanted the government to ask the ambassadors of the countries where the Prophet's caricatures were printed to apologise or be sent back to their respective countries.
The meeting demanded the people behind the caricatures be handed over to an Islamic country to be punished in accordance with Islamic laws.
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