KARACHI: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Sunday held its “million march” in Karachi and Lahore against the blasphemous sketches published in a French magazine. The JI Ameer, Sirajul Haq, speaking in Karachi, demanded that the prime minister call an all parties conference on the issue. According to police estimates, the Karachi rally was attended by some 25,000 people. Protesters shouted slogans including “death to France”, “death to the blasphemers” and “(We are) ready to sacrifice our life for the Holy Prophet (PBUH)”, as anger remains potent over the magazine’s repeated depiction of the Prophet (PBUH). Speaking at the protest, JI chief Sirajul Haq demanded Pakistan call a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a group of Muslim countries, and urged the United Nations “to curb the menace of blasphemy” through changes in international law. “In Paris hundreds of thousands of people came onto the streets to support the Satan’s agents and in response hundreds of thousands of people have come out here on the streets for the love of the Prophet (PBUH),” Haq said. Haq has called upon the MQM to explain the rationale of criticising the JI when it protested against the French magazine. Reacting to MQM’s statement seeking a ban on the JI, Haq said the JI wasn’t protesting at Nine-Zero. “We were protesting outside French Consulate in Karachi against Charlie Hebdo for blasphemous caricatures it published,” he added. The JI chief asked: “Why did those sitting in London didn’t react to the blasphemous sketches?” He said the reaction to blasphemy was above all the political differences. The JI also held an anti-Charlie Hebdo rally in front of the provincial legislature in Lahore, attended by some 5,000 people. Another sizeable demonstration was held on Sunday by Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the charitable arm of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India accuses of the 2008 attacks on its financial capital Mumbai that claimed 166 lives. Police estimated that at least 12,000 people attended the JuD rally against Charlie Hebdo in Karachi. The JuD chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is considered an abettor of Al-Qaeda by the UN, asked protesters not only to boycott French products but also to refuse to buy all European imports in protest against the magazine. A few hundred also turned out for a street protest in Quetta. The country’s prime minister and parliament have strongly condemned the publication of cartoons. At least three people were injured on January 16 when protesters and police clashed at an anti-Charlie Hebdo demonstration outside the French consulate in Karachi.They included AFP photographer Asif Hassan, who was shot in the back and is now recovering at home after being discharged from hospital.
