Pakistan declares holiday to protest against movie

The Pakistan government has declared on Friday a national holiday in honour of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and called for peaceful protests against a US-made film. The cabinet decided to make Friday an official “day of expression of love for the Prophet (PBUH)” in response to the Innocence of Muslims movie, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. The sudden announcement of the holiday came after religious parties called for a day of protest on Friday to denounce the film and lawyers demonstrating in Islamabad denounced the government’s “criminal silence” on the issue. “We will send a message to the world that Muslims of Pakistan are protesting about this, and we won’t tolerate even a single sentence against the dignity of the holy Prophet (PBUH),” Kaira told a news conference. “We should make peaceful protest and pray to god to remove the weaknesses of the Muslim people, because of which we are facing this situation.” Around 500 lawyers broke through a gate to Islamabad’s diplomatic enclave on Wednesday. From gulftoday