Pakistani Religious Parties Call For Western Boycott

Islamabad, Oct 6, IRNA -- The All Parties Ahl-i-Sunnat Conference has urged their supporters to boycott products from western countries in protest against an anti-Islam movie made in America, local media reported on Friday. A resolution carried at the end of the conference, which was held at Jamia Naeemia Lahore and attended by representatives of 40 Sunni parties, also condemned protesters in Pakistan who committed arson and vandalism while protesting against the movie. The resolution termed the making of the anti-Islam movie an act of terrorism and a bid to create conflict between religions. The resolution also addressed the United Nations, saying the body should amend its charter to make blasphemy an international crime. It also demanded a code of ethics for media whereby it agreed not to air blasphemous material anywhere in the world. The parities demanded that the rulers of Muslim countries record their protest against the film in an effective way and that the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation should hold a meeting on the subject. They said that the matter should definitely be taken up in the International Court of Justice. Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Haji Fazle Karim, addressing the conference, said that the movie was a western attempt to portray the Muslims as intolerant and that they had done this before. He said banned militant organizations were behind the violence in the protests against the film and they were operating “under the government’s shelter”. He said all the people arrested for violent protests in Lahore had been granted bail, which showed that the government had backed them. He said the Sunni Ittehad Council would set off on a train march from Karachi on October 14. They would arrive in Lahore the next day and then set off for Islamabad. He said that he had changed the name from the ‘Pakistan Bachao March’ to the ‘Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat March’. Sunni Tehrik head Sarwat Ijaz Qadri accused the media of not giving adequate coverage to their protests./end