Qaanitah Hunter – Cii News| 21 September 2012

Although the Pakistani leadership is largely silent, the country’s youth have come out and expressed outrage at the recent defamation against the prophet Muhammad (saw), former Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan, retired general, Hamid Gul, said.

Friday was declared a holiday termed Yaum e Ishqe Rasool or the day of the love of the Prophet (saw) in Pakistan in response to the inflammatory US film, Innocence of Muslims.

The country has been brought to a complete standstill today with the closing of shops, schools, universities among other amenities.

Gul said it is a natural response for an Islamic state like Pakistan. “It is a good response but it is rather late,” he said. Yesterday thousands of protesters descended on the U.S. embassy in Islamabad causing police to fire live rounds and tear gas into the crowds, injuring 50 people.

The general rhetorically asked how can a Muslim remain calm regarding to the honour of Nabi (saw). “Nabi (saw) is the epicenter of our love and our faith. So it is a natural response and I think they (the West) knew there would be a response,” he said.

Gul bemoaned the lack of response from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The role of politics

Gul said that if political personalities join in the demonstrations there is a strong chance that it will not go out of hand. “If they continue with the American line then unfortunately it would get out of hand because Pakistan is sick and tired of the incumbent government.”

The protests have seen people coming from far, remote villages to join the collective voice. Gul dubbed that the blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammed (saw) as the worse kind of terrorism.

“It affects the lives and the social equilibrium of an entire community spread across all the continents and the countries of the world.”

He directed that two countries can play a major role in the face of any form of desecration to the character of Prophet Muhammed (saw).

“Number one is Pakistan to block the Nato supply and let Americans degenerate in Afghanistan. They already pulled out 33 000 troops and now that they are on the run they will be in great difficulty,” Gul explained.

He went on to say that they will have to take out 1.5 million loads of container equipment to Pakistan when they eventually retreat. He noted that there are 90 billion loads of precious equipment locked up in Afghanistan.

“Then there is Saudi Arabia. They can impose an oil embargo on them until they impose a law that says that desecration of the Prophet (saw), or any other prophet for that matter, will be a crime punishable by a certain number of years in jail.”