Pakistani students protest publication of Prophet cartoons

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Angered over the reproduction of Prophet Muhammad cartoons in Denmark, hundreds of people rallied Friday in various parts of Pakistan, setting fire to Danish flags and demanding the ambassador's expulsion. Chanting slogans "We condemn blasphemy of Muhammad!" and "Send back Danish ambassador," about 200 students from the International Islamic University in Islamabad vowed to organize a street march next Friday if the government didn't accept their demand. "We are even ready to sacrifice our life for our beloved Prophet," said Mahmood Sadiqui, a student leader. Also on Friday, about 200 people held a similar rally in Multan, a main city in the eastern Punjab province, burning Danish flags and chanting "Death to the Cartoonist!" and "Boycott, boycott of European products!" At two similar rallies in Pakistan's biggest city of Karachi, about 150 supporters from radical Islamic parties torched effigies of the Danish prime minister amid calls to boycott Danish products.