ISLAMABAD: Pakistan summoned the Dutch charge d’affaires to register a “strong protest” against the announcement by a far-right politician of a competition encouraging “blasphemous caricatures” of the Prophet Muhammad, the Foreign Office said on Monday.
Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, said in May that he plans to hold the competition at his party’s parliamentary offices.
“Freedom of speech is threatened, especially for Islam critics,” he said. “We should never accept that. Freedom of speech is our most important freedom.”
Pakistan’s new federal cabinet “strongly condemned this abominable and reprehensible plan,” and the Foreign Office expressed to the charge d’affaires its deep concern about “this deliberate and malicious attempt to defame Islam.”
Pakistan’s new political administration instructed its ambassador in The Hague to raise the issue with the Dutch government. Its permanent representatives to the United Nations in New York and Geneva have also been directed to raise the matter with the secretary general, the UN high commissioner for human rights, and other UN-related bodies.
The Foreign Office said that Pakistan would “vigorously pursue the matter with the Dutch government and raise it at the relevant international fora to prevent this abhorrent act taking place.”
Pakistan lodges protest over ‘blasphemous’ Dutch cartoon contest
Pakistan lodges protest over ‘blasphemous’ Dutch cartoon contest
- Diplomat summoned in response to announcement by far-right Dutch politician of plans for a contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
