Pakistani film protests: furor in Muslim world goes on

The Pakistani government made today a national holiday in apparent attempt to calm tensions over the film. That approach didn’t work. Violent protests took place across the country. Two cinemas were smashed up in north-eastern city of Peshawar. Then, as police struggled to restore order, they shot dead a driver for local TV company. Much of the anger of Pakistan was aimed at the US where the film was produced, reportedly funded by a small group of Coptic Christians. TV advertisements were showed on several Pakistani TV channels, paid for by the US government starring Hilary Clinton in attempt to disassociate the US government from the film.

“Let me state very clearly and I hope it is obvious that the US government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message. America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation.”

That approach seems to had little success so far with protests reported in countries across the Muslim world for 10 days now with spanning countries as diverse as Indonesia and here in Lebanon.

“This demonstration is against the American enemy and the Israeli enemy that put out a film that offends billions of Muslims. We’re seeing all the demonstrations in and outside of Lebanon to denounce this act and defend the family of God’s messenger.”

Dr. John Chalcraft, an Expert on the Middle East from the London School of Economics, says the unrest and the deaths caused by the film are deeply regrettable, but need to be kept in context.

“We’ve got to keep this in the perspective. As you know, yesterday in Syria something like 5200 people were killed in a single air strike. I think the protests that have been going on associated with the film involved thousands of people. I think that we have to, at some point, get some perspective.”

But for the moment, at least, the film is causing real offence across the Muslim world. That’s unlikely to have been soothed by the publication of cartoons in France this week depicting the Prophet Mohammed, an act some Muslims find offensive. That’s forced the French government to increase security around embassies, schools, cultural associations and consulates in Muslim countries. And today the French government has advised its citizens in 20 countries to keep a low profile saying, it might be prudent if they stayed indoors.