Pakistan steps up security at European embassies over anti-Quran film

PAKISTAN: Pakistan has stepped up security at diplomatic missions of the Netherlands and other European nations ahead of the planned release of a controversial film on the Quran by a right-wing Dutch lawmaker, an official said.

Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party, is making a 10-minute film portraying the Islamic holy text as a "fascist book" that incites violence and intolerance of women and homosexuals. He says it will be finished in February and shown on Dutch television and on the Internet in March.

Fearing a backlash by Pakistani Muslims, Pakistan's Interior Ministry recently held a special meeting in Islamabad focusing on the security of European interests in the country.

"We have intensified security of all the diplomatic missions, especially the Dutch (Embassy)," Arif Ahmed Khan, the top security official in southern Sindh province, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Security has also been beefed up for Dutch business interests, including ABN-Amro Bank, Philips and Makro stores, he said.

In 2006, Pakistan witnessed some of the most violent protests in the Islamic world against the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published by Danish and other European newspapers.

Tens of thousands of people, spurred on by hard-line groups, staged demonstrations, triggering clashes with police that killed five protesters.

Karachi, Friday, AP