'Ishq-e-Rasool (PBUH) Day' tomorrow: government declares holiday to protest anti-Islam film

The government on Wednesday announced public holiday on Friday to observe it as 'Ishq-e-Rasool (PBUH) Day' and appealed traders not to open their businesses to register protest against the blasphemous movie. The Minister for Information, Qamar Zaman Kaira, told media persons at a press conference that the decision to this effect was taken by the federal cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf.
The meeting was converted into a special session to discuss the issue of blasphemous film. The meeting also proposed that President Asif Ali Zardari should take up the issue of sacrilegious act, which offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world, at the UN General Assembly during his upcoming visit.
The Minister maintained that the meeting also underscored the need for a meeting of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to adopt a unanimous strategy to deal with the frequent occurrence of such incidents that are intolerable for the Muslims. The Minister said that the US ambassador could be summoned to the Foreign Office to lodge a protest over the incident if the US government did not condemn the movie.
The sacrilegious film was condemned by the US President as well as Secretary of State, Kaira said adding that the Prime Minister halted "YouTube" and parliament also adopted a unanimous resolution to show their anguish and now the Prime Minister would address Ishq-e-Rasool Conference being convened on Friday. The Minister stated that the Cabinet also noted that the sacrilegious act has damaged the interfaith harmony and would foment extremism. The Cabinet meeting urged the comity of nations and international organisations to take immediate notice of the sacrilegious act and condemn it in strongest words and take necessary steps to prevent the recurrence of such mischievous acts.
The Minister said the meeting also adopted a resolution stating: "We respect freedom of expression but cannot allow anyone or organisation to make speech, write or issue footage that is based on hatred and indignation against any individual, religion and faith." Kaira said the government was of the opinion that it could not buy the argument that the blasphemous film was part of freedom of expression and expect the world community to chalk out necessary law to prevent such happenings. The Minister stated that the federal cabinet requested the people to keep their protests peaceful and not to damage the public and private properties while urging the media not to magnify the incidents of violence because this could breed more violence.