Pakistan records protest with Netherlands against blasphemous cartoon competition

The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday called the charge d’affaires of the Netherlands to record a protest against the “announcement by the leader of Dutch Freedom Party and Parliamentarian Geert Wilders to hold a competition of blasphemous caricatures.” According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office, Pakistan’s Ambassador in The Hague has also been instructed “to forcefully raise the issue with the Dutch government along with Ambassadors of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.” The Foreign Office has also assured that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will lead the discussion of the matter in the upcoming meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, scheduled to be held in September. Pakistan’s Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York and Geneva have also been directed to take up the matter with the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.