Denmark: Pakistani ambassador blames cartoons for embassy attack, threatens with more attacks

Danes need look no further than their own newspapers to find the reason for the car bombing that severely damaged their embassy in Pakistan on Monday, according to Rohan Gunaranta, an international terrorism expert from Pakistan.


'There is still a lot of dissatisfaction here about the cartoons, as well as the fact that the Danish government still has not condemned them or the people that were responsible for them. As long as that hasn't happened, Denmark will be under the constant threat of militant muslims,' Gunaranta said.


Fauzia Mufti Abbas, Pakistan's ambassador to Denmark, agreed that the Mohammed cartoons, first published in Jyllands-Posten newspaper in October 2005, had incited Muslim anger and were possibly the motivation for the attack, which killed eight and wounded as many as 30.


'It isn't just the people of Pakistan that feel they have been harassed by what your newspaper has begun,' she said. 'I'd like to know if your newspaper is satisfied with what it has done and what it has unleashed?'


Abbas said, however, that it would be necessary to await the outcome of the enquiry before drawing any conclusions about who was responsible or their motives.


The matter of the cartoons, she said, was something Danes needed to reflect on.


'Danes know that they have insulted people around the world by printing and reprinting the Mohammed cartoons, which were done in poor taste.'


Jørn Mikkelsen, Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, defended his newspaper's decision to print the cartoons.


'The decision to do so was in full accordance with Danish law, Danish press ethics and Danish press traditions. That the facts have been twisted in the rest of the world and misused for purposes that are no concern of Jyllands-Posten is something we can and will not take responsibility for.'


The newspaper has previously expressed its surprise that the cartoons resulted in the violent protests in early 2006, but Abbas pointed out that the cartoons had been printed twice. 'Either this is a conscious provocation or it is a sign of thoughtlessness and irresponsibility.'


Source: Copenhagen Post (English)