Dutch Muhammad cartoon contest sparks protests in Pakistan
Organiser of march said if he were in power he would order a nuclear strike on the Netherlands if its government allowed the competition to go ahead
Hundreds of Islamists are marching on Islamabad on Wednesday to demand that Imran Khan’s new government sever diplomatic ties with the Netherlands over a “blasphemous” cartoon competition.
The protest march, organised by Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP), a political party dedicated to the punishment of blasphemy. Last year a similar protest by the TLP shut down the capital for almost a month.
In June, Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam MP who leads the country’s second largest party, invited submissions of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, which Islam forbids. The US$10,000 competition is due to start in November and 200 entries have been submitted so far.
“We can be martyred or arrested,” said Peer Afzal Qadri, one of the TLP’s leaders, “but we will not return until either the cartoon contest is stopped or the Dutch envoy is expelled.”
Khadim Rizvi, the firebrand cleric who founded the TLP, said condemnation of the contest by the Pakistani government was not enough and “jihad” was the only solution.
Before Pakistan’s general election last month, Rizvi said if he had the power he would order a nuclear strike on the Netherlands if its government allowed the competition to go ahead.