PAKISTAN PROTESTS WITH DUTCH

ISLAMABAD : PAKISTAN'S Foreign Minister Shah Mahood Querishi on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok over the caricatures competition organised by anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders.

''This evening I spoke to the Dutch foreign minister and apprised him about the sentiments in Pakistan and the Muslim World over the issue,'' Mr. Querishi said at a press conference.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahood Querishi

Mr. Blok, however, expressed his helplessness on the matter. He told Mr. Querishi that the Dutch government considered the issue as a matter of freedom of expression and would not curtail that. He, however, noted that it was an ''individual action.''

Mr. Quereishi said that he reminded his counterpart that such actions promoted extremism and warned that on certain occasions these ''individual actions'' proved too costly.

Wilders leads the Dutch Party for Freedom, which is the second largest in the Dutch Parliament and deeply anti-Muslim. He says that  Dutch counterterrorism  agency had permitted him to hold the competition on the parliamentary premises.

The organiser claims that he has so far received couple of hundred entries that would be judged by an American cartoonist.

With sentiments running high, it is feared that the competition could lead to violence.

''The Dutch government should not ignore the matter,'' FM Querishi underscored and called for unity among Muslim countries on the matter. ''We need to speak with one voice,'' he added.