Tens of thousands rally in Pakistan against Mohammad Cartoons

[ECH1969]

More than 40,000 people rallied Sunday in Pakistan`s port city of Karachi to protest the worldwide publication of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, witnesses and police said.

In the rally called by the country`s mainstream political parties, flag-waving protestors chanted "down with the blasphemer," "down with Denmark" and "death to America." Protests over the cartoons - although not published in the American media - have invariably turned against the United States in Pakistan, where anti-US sentiments are running high because of Washington`s policies in neighbouring Afghanistan and Iraq.

Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Islamic alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal (MMA), condemned the European Union for extending support for the blasphemous cartoons on the pretext of freedom of press.

Pakistan, where blasphemy is punishable by death, has already recalled its envoy from Copenhagen and urged the European Union to enact laws to prevent publication of offensive material against Islam and other religions.

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=9753