Islamabad: Violence flared up in Pakistan on the day of protest against an anti-Islam film on Friday, with a man dying after being hit by a bullet allegedly fired by police as angry demonstrators chanted slogans against the US and set ablaze two cinema halls in Peshawar.
Notwithstanding Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s call for people to express their outrage in a peaceful manner, protesters turned violent in Peshawar, the capital of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, and the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where several demonstrations were organised by students’ groups and religious parties.
In Peshawar, two cinema halls were burnt by the protesters, including one near Jinnah Park where a mob of hundreds broke the gate of the building and vandalised it before setting it on fire. The local chamber of commerce was too set ablaze by the angry demonstrators. The mob also damaged several nearby shops before police fired in the air and used teargas to disperse the protesters.
Footage on TV clearly showed that some of the protesters too were armed and had fired during clashes with police.
An employee of a private TV news channel died after he was hit by a bullet outside one of the cinema halls vandalised by the protesters. ARY news channel reported that its employee Mohammed Amir was struck in the chest by a bullet fired by police and died later in hospital. Amir was in a van that had taken ARY reporters and cameramen to cover the protest outside the cinema hall. ARY said that three bullets hit the van during police firing. There was no official word on the incident. The news channel beamed footage of doctors at a hospital in Peshawar trying desperately to save Amir.
Thousands of people joined protests across Rawalpindi, blocking roads and lobbing stones at cars. In Lahore, protesters blocked the Circular Road by burning tyres and shouted slogans against the US. There were reports of violence during intermittent protests in the port city of Karachi.
Life across Pakistan came to a standstill in the morning due to a holiday declared by the government to protest the anti-Islam film. The government is observing the day as ‘Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool’ or Love the Prophet Day.
Addressing a ‘Love the Prophet’ conference at the heavily -fortified Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Ashraf called on the people to protest peacefully without causing harm to life or property. At the same time, he warned that Muslims would not tolerate any attempt to defame the Prophet Mohammed. “The holy Prophet Mohammed gave the message of peace and harmony. It is in this same spirit that I would like to make an appeal to the nation to maintain peace and avoid violence. It is our collective responsibility to protest peacefully without causing harm or damage to life or property,” he said. “An attack on the holy Prophet is an attack on the core belief of 1.5 billion Muslims. Therefore, this is something that is unacceptable,” he added. “The anger, anguish and hurt is even more deep after the discovery that this (the anti-Islam film) was a deliberate, premeditated act of mischief mongers based on bias, hatred and prejudice.”
The anti-Islam film, Ashraf contended, was “not about freedom of expression.”
President Asif Ali Zardari will convey the emotions and views of Pakistanis when he addresses the UN General Assembly in New York next week, Ashraf said. The film amounted to “hate speech equal to the worst kind of anti-Semitism” and the UN and other international organisations should frame a “law that bans such hate speech aimed at fomenting hatred,” he said. The Love the Prophet conference was initially to be held at a convention centre near the diplomatic enclave, where some 5,000 people gathered for a violent protest on Thursday.
Cellular phone services were suspended in 15 cities and aAdditional security forces were deployed in most cities and authorities were on high alert.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik blamed the violence during the protest on members of “banned groups.” (PTI)