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Summary The PML-N Friday submitted a resolution in the Senate condemning blasphemous US movie.
The resolution moved by the Senator Ishaq Dar, Leader of the Opposition, in Upper House of the Parliament, stated that Senate of Pakistan condemned in strongest terms, the airing of blasphemous movie which seems to be a vilification campaign being maliciously touted by some western elements, lobbies and countries to malign Islam, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) and the Holy Quran, all on the pretext- and behind the smoke screen – of freedom of speech and expression.It further stated that the House conveyed deep concern over a systematic, conscious and well-orchestrated connivance to consistently splash out and propagate hate literature, sacrilegious caricatures and incendiary statements to aggravate religious sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims across the globe.The Senate of Pakistan calls upon the United Nations and other International fora to promote peace and harmony, mutual human respect, tolerance, and, above all, safeguard all human beings from abuse and torture of all kinds, irrespective of the colour, creed, race, religion, national identity and political strength.Furthermore the resolution said that the right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression should not be allowed to be abused to avoid creating inter-faith fissures and hurting sentiments of followers of a certain faith, which in this case are Muslims, who happen to be the largest religious denomination of the world after Christians.This House is of the considered opinion that such incidents provide extremists and terrorist’s organizations a good justification and a supposedly higher moral ground in recruiting, promoting and exporting extremism and terrorism, and take advantage of this to create more cleavages between followers of different religions and stoke up hatred and mistrust.Moreover, it said that the Senate of Pakistan strongly believed that a few irresponsible individuals or small organizations, no matter which ethnic group, religion, or country they belong to, must not be allowed to damage and spoil international peace, understanding, goodwill and coexistence among peoples of various faiths.The Senate of Pakistan urges upon the United Nations that an international law/framework is devised making incumbent upon all member states to jointly work towards interfaith harmony by introducing laws entailing deterrent punishments in order to discourage and prevent the production and outflow of blasphemous material aiming at insulting or ridiculing all religions, holy personalities and other sacred scriptures.Resolution said that the Senate urged upon the Government of Pakistan to take appropriate and effective steps to mobilize the governments and people of all Muslim and peace-loving countries of the world to resort to all necessary diplomatic and other measures to condemn and counter these efforts which threaten peace and harmony between different religions and cultures.
