Pakistan threatens European embassies
Pakistan has told the European Union that more attacks on EU diplomatic missions abroad cannot be ruled out unless the European Union represses freedom of expression, The Daily Times of Pakistan reports.
Pakistan is asking ask European Union countries to amend laws regarding freedom of expression in order to prevent "offensive" incidents such as the publication of the Danish cartoons and the production of an anti-Islam film by a Dutch legislator, sources in the Interior Ministry told the Daily Times.
They said that a six-member high-level delegation comprising officials from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Law would leave Islamabad on 8 June 2008 for the EU headquarters in Brussels to explain to the EU leadership the backlash against the "blasphemous campaign".
The delegation will attempt to convince EU leaders that the recent attack on the Danish Embassy in Pakistan could be a reaction against the blasphemous campaign. The delegation will also tell the EU that if such acts against Islam are not controlled, more attacks on the EU diplomatic missions abroad could not be ruled out.
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Pakistan's threat under a very thin burkha
The only solution I can see is to make the Muslim world realize that this sort of repression, when applied outside the boundaries of their own rigidly controlled countries, simply encourages more criticism.
More cartoons!
'When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?"'
- Quentin Crisp
when push comes to shove...
The impending visit of a Pakistani delegation to EU headquarters to blackmail European authorities into curbing Danish and Dutch "blasphemous" expressions of dissent with islamic obscurantism may well be a turning point and, in a paradoxical sense, even a good thing. EU authorities will have to be crystal clear about where they stand as regards freedom of speech and freedom of opinion. Either they are serious about defending the rights of European citizens in this regard and will firmly reject all demands from Pakistani authorities. Or they will cave in to the same forces that demand "à la carte" human rights for Moslem countries at the U.N. Human Rights Council. Let's make no bones about it: European citizens enjoy a degree of freedom of expression that is unequalled anywhere else in the world. This should be no grounds for complacency. Quite the contrary, it means an enormous responsibility for European politicians, namely to advance the cause of freedom anywhere in the world.
"The slumber of reason begets monsters" F. Goya
The manner, the fashion and
The manner, the fashion and the style in which the western code of freedom of expression is being used to stain the image of other religion ( the case of the Danish cartoons is self- explanatory),the civil society of Europe may not be intellectually, morally and ethically be proud of it, nor can be the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights.