Anti-Islamic Twitter messages by Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders seem to have become a threat to the Dutch ambassador to Pakistan. „Indeed, there are threats against the ambassador,“ confirmed a spokeswoman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry today the news agency AFP.
The security of the diplomatic mission and its staff is currently „the subject of discussions between the Netherlands and Pakistan“. At the end of August, after massive protests by Islamist groups in Pakistan, Wilders had canceled a planned competition for Muhammad cartoons. Instead, the MP published several drawings provoking further rage of radical Muslims in Pakistan.
Interior Ministry warned
In a letter issued on October 29 by the media in both countries, the Pakistani Interior Ministry warned plans of supporters of the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) to join the Dutch ambassador for the „blasphemous cartoons“ on Wilder’s Twitter account revenge.
A spokesman for the TLP denied today that the Dutch ambassador was threatened. The TLP does not attack anyone, he said: „We are a pacifist movement and believe in dialogue.“ The Dutch Embassy and the Pakistani Foreign Ministry were initially unreachable for an opinion.
TLP behind protests in case Asia Bibi
The TLP stands behind the recent days-long protests in Pakistan against a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the death sentence against the Christin Asia Bibi for blasphemy. Leading TLP officials called for the assassination of the judges involved in the ruling and the uprising of the military. Subsequently, the government in Islamabad agreed with the TLP that the Islamists can appeal and Bibi is prohibited from leaving the country.
According to CDU human rights expert Michael Brand, Bibi should find protection in Germany. „Although the highest judges have awarded Asia Bibi freedom, their lives are now threatened to the utmost,“ said the human rights spokesman for the Union faction in the German Bundestag today. She must also be able to find a place in Germany for protection.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said his country is „discreetly“ trying to help Bibi. Bibi’s husband asked European states for asylum this weekend. She is apparently still in prison.
