Radical Islamic leader freed from house arrest, calls for new cartoon protests in Pakistan By SADAQAT KHAN Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Radical Islamic leaders called for more rallies against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in Pakistan as lawmakers disrupted a session of Parliament, protesting sweeping arrests before a banned demonstration over the weekend.
The rowdy opposition legislators forced the lower house of Parliament, or National Assembly, to adjourn indefinitely after they stood up Monday and chanted anti-government slogans. They also demanded a debate about the roundup of hundreds of Islamic hard-liners before Sunday's protest in the capital, Islamabad. One of those detained was Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a leader of a six-party coalition of radical Islamic parties called Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), or United Action Forum. The MMA sympathizes with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and is fiercely anti-U.S. Authorities held Ahmed and others because they feared the coalition's rally would become violent like others have in the past week. Despite the leaders' detention, protesters clashed with police for about three hours on Sunday. After Ahmed was freed from house detention late Sunday he traveled to Islamabad on Monday for a meeting with senior leaders in the alliance. Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a lawmaker from the coalition and opposition leader in Parliament, jointly announced that a series of new rallies against the cartoons and the government would be held. Nationwide protests will be held after prayers on Friday, Rahman said. "Our movement to protect the dignity of the prophet will continue unless the culprit apologizes and assures that he will not commit this kind of a crime in the future," Rahman said. The coalition also planned rallies on Sunday and March 3. The rallies appeared to be taking on more of an anti-government dimension as anger simmered about the massive roundup before Sunday's rally. About 3,463 supporters of MMA were arrested across the country, said Shahid Shamsi, a spokesman for the group. "This is very unwise of the government to stop us from demonstrations," Shamsi said, adding that Friday's protest will have a dual purpose: condemning the cartoons and the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that the opposition should not use anti-cartoon protests for political gains and warned against violence. "The government will not allow anyone to create a law and order situation," state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency quoted as Aziz as saying in Islamabad. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told reporters the government respects the people's right to protest _ if they are peaceful. "When they turn into violent acts, we also damage our image," Aslam said. Last week, a Pakistani cleric in Peshawar announced a US$1 million (euro840,000) bounty for killing a cartoonist who first drew the cartoons for the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten. The cleric did not name the cartoonist and did not appear aware that 12 people had drawn the pictures, published in September. On Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said offering the reward was tantamount to terrorism. He also noted that violent protests have tapered off in many Muslim nations while escalating in Pakistan. He accused "extremist forces" of fanning the flames. 060221 010434 Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. FAIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The Copyright Act of 1976. 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