Students, traders and other civil society organisations staged six demonstrations in protest of the publication of blasphemous cartoons in Danish press, here on Saturday in industrial city.
Addressing the major demonstration, at Chowk Clock Tower after Nimaz-e-Asar, trade leaders and religious party members urged the government & public to boycott the products of Western countries involved in publication of sacrilegious caricatures. The protestors carried banners and placards and raised slogans against Denmark and other European countries.
Addressing the protestors, the business community leaders condemned what they called criminal silence of the Muslim world over the deliberate republishing of the blasphemous caricatures. They lashed out at the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and other Muslim organisations, and condemned the Muslim rulers for sacrificing love of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Islamic honour for petty worldly interests from the West.
Earlier, Anjuman Tulba-e-Islam, Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and other religious organisations condemned the organised and deliberate blasphemy by the Western countries against the Holy Prophet (PBUH). They said this act was a prelude to harsher anti-Islam policies and provocation. People in large numbers took part in the protests, which were held in Government College Samanabad, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad Press Club.
Protestors condemned the repeated publication of blasphemous caricatures and demanded death punishments to the blasphemers according to the Islamic laws, expulsion of Danish ambassador at Islamabad and complete boycott of Danish products.
Meanwhile, different student organisations from various colleges and universities of the city, holding protest demonstrations on Saturday, condemned the republication of sacrilegious caricatures and demanded end of diplomatic ties with the countries where these blasphemous caricatures were republished. They also demanded the government to end diplomatic ties with countries involved in blasphemous act.
Christian community also organised a protest hunger strike outside Faisalabad Press Club and condemned the republication of blasphemous caricatures. The protestors, carrying placards, chanted slogans and demanded action against the persons involved in the heinous crime.