Demonstrations in Pakistan have escalated into death threats against Danish illustrators who drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed

Copenhagen Post:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned Danish travellers to Pakistan of increased hazard after a Danish newspaper's decision to publish cartoons of Muslim prophet Mohammed escalated into a bounty being placed on the heads of the cartoonists.

Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoon drawings of Mohammed in September, sparking angry reactions from Denmark's Muslim population and a number of Muslim countries.

A bounty of DKK 50,000 had been put on the head the cartoonist responsible for the drawings, daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on Friday. The Pakistani group offering the reward mistakenly believes that the 12 cartoons were created by just one person.

Danish Ambassador to Pakistan Bent Wigotski said the bounty had been promised by religious party Jamaat-e-Islami and its youth organisation, which had also demanded Danish representatives expelled from the country.

Danish authorities immediately informed the Pakistani government about the death threats and bounty promised by the party, which is described as nationalistic and fundamentalist.

Ever since the demonstrators marched through the streets of Islamabad, the party has been spreading its message through the media and flyers.

Wigotski said he had no plans to leave Pakistan, despite hundreds of angry protest letters from Muslims around the world.

'But the situation is of course serious,' he said. 'They might want to get to the Danish illustrators, but if they can't reach them, they could make to with a scapegoat.'

That scapegoat could be anybody, the embassy warned, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a new travel advisory for Pakistan warning Danes not to visit the country, given that the Jyllands-Posten cartoons were 'seen by many Muslims as derogatory and blasphemous'.

Pakistani Ambassador to Denmark Javed Qureshi denounced the death threats.

'No Pakistani government would ever support such a thing, I'm sure that the current government will take action in the case. I can't imagine that a bounty like that doesn't violate Pakistani legislation,' said Qureshi, who was one of the 11 Muslim ambassadors in Denmark to sign a protest letter to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen about the cartoons.

Jyllands-Posten had no comment about the bounty placed on the cartoonists' heads.

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