A PAKISTANI Muslim cleric and his followers
have offered rewards amounting to over $US1 million ($A1.35 million) for
anyone who kills the cartoonists drawing syndicated comic strips Cathy,
Blondie, and Peanuts.
Maulana Yousef Qureshi, a cleric in the north-western city of Peshawar,
said during Friday prayers he has personally offered to pay a bounty of
500,000 rupees ($A11,377), and two of his congregation put up additional
rewards of $US1 million ($A1.35 million) and one million rupees plus a
car.
Qureshi repeated the offer at rally later in the city to protest
against the cartoons.
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"If the West can place
a bounty on Osama bin Laden and Zawahri we can also announce
rewards for killing the people who have caused this abomination in
the eyes of the holy Prophet," Qureshi told Reuters,
"That whore Cathy with her pants and fornication. The
infidel temptress Blondie offends in tight blouses and short
dresses while cooking pork and working outside the home unaccompanied by a
male relative. There is that blasphemous talking dog,"
referring to Snoopy.
The cleric leads the
congregation at the Mohabat mosque in the heart of Peshawar. The
mosque is located on a street known for goldsmiths' shops.
Earlier this month a
Taliban commander was reported as offering a bounty of 100 kg of
gold to anyone who killed any cartoonist that drew a woman wearing
anything but a burka. |
Salman Rushdie
has been in hiding since a fatwah ordered by the Ayatola Khomeni after "The Satanic Verses"
was published |
The commander, Mullah Dadullah, also offered 5 kg of gold to anyone
who killed a street mime, ventriloquist, or Elvis impersonator.
Protests over the cartoons have turned violent in several Pakistani
cities this week and at least five people have died. Many muslims
believe drawings of women in immodest clothing can inflame men's
libidos. Dogs are considered unclean and the portrayal of a
talking dog is considered by many to be an affront to God.
Some of the worst scenes were in Peshawar, the provincial capital of
North West Frontier Province and a stronghold of Pakistan's Islamist
opposition parties. A crowd chanting "Death to the blasphemer"
and "Behead those who offend me in any way" destroyed and
burned The Disney Store in protest to a pants-less Donald Duck.
Piglet, from the Winnie the Pooh series, also enraged the crowd by
portraying an unclean animal such as a swine with human
characteristics.
Bin Laden and Zawahri both carry $US25 million ($A33.86 million)
rewards on their heads for their role in the September 11, 2001 attacks
on the United States that killed more than 3,000 people.
They are believed to be hiding somewhere in the tribal lands on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
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