Pakistan strongly protests with Dutch government, ambassador summoned to Foreign Office

ASSOCIATED PRESS SERVICE


ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 : Pakistan on Friday lodged a strong protest with Netherlands on the issue of release of Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilder’s film defaming Islam. The ambassador of the Netherlands in Islamabad was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Additional Secretary (Europe) and a strong protest lodged with him on the internet release of the film.
The ambassador was told that the Government of Pakistan strongly condemned the release of the defamatory film which deeply offended the sentiments of Muslims all over the world and which was expected to result in expressions of strong abhorrence and outrage.
The Additional Secretary further underlined that insult to other religions could never be justified on the basis of freedom of expression and ran counter to the efforts of those individuals and countries that were building bridges between religions and civilizations.
Referring to Foreign Secretary’s earlier meeting with the Dutch Ambassador on the subject, the Additional Secretary stated that it was incumbent upon the Dutch Government to take all necessary measures in order to minimize the impact of the incident and to prosecute Geert Wilder for defamation and deliberately hurting Muslims’ sentiments.
The Additional Secretary underlined that Article 137 of the Dutch penal code prohibits defamation and incitement to hatred.
The Dutch Ambassador termed the release of the film on the internet as an extremely unfortunate and a despicable act, something the Dutch Government has strongly condemned.
He referred to the statement of the Dutch Prime Minister which was issued immediately after the release of the film and said that the statement underlined that the film had no other purpose but to cause offence.
The Dutch Government strongly rejected the message of the film which was to equate violence with Islam.
The Ambassador also referred to the Dutch Government’s earlier efforts to block the release of the film on television channels and to repeated negotiations with Geert Wilder impressing upon him not to release the film.
He said that this was an individual act for which the Dutch people as a whole should not be blamed.
The Dutch Government will now institute a criminal investigation into the affair and that Wilder would have to bear the consequence of his actions.