Pakistan Cabinet minister’s offer of $100,000 bounty on anti-Islam filmmaker

d Pakistani government on mon. distanced itself frm an offer by 1 of itz Cabinet ministers 2 pA $100,000 4 any1 hu kills d maker of an anti-Islam film, saying d offer duz not represNt official government policy.

d offer by Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour hz drawn criticism n Pakistan evN tho angR agAnst d film runs hI n DIS predominantly Muslim cuntrE.

Bilour sed s@RdA dat he wud pA d reward monE out of Hs own pocket. He also appealed 2 al-Qaida & Taliban militants 2 contribute 2 “a noble cause” of eliminating d filmmaker.

d film, mAd n d United States & entitled “Innocence of Muslims,” hz enraged mNE Muslims rownd d wrld 4 itz portrayal of d Prophet Muhammad az a fraud, a womanizer & a child molester. @ lEst 51 people, including d U.S. ambassador 2 Libya, hav Bin killed n violence linked 2 protests Ovr d film, whch also hz renewed db8 Ovr freedom of XpreSN n d U.S. & n Europe.

n Islamabad, d 4n OPIS sed n a statement mon. dat d bounty put on d filmmaker’s hed reflected Bilour’s personL vu & wz not Pakistan’s official policy.

d minister belongs 2 d secular Awami National Party, an ally n d government of prez Asif Ali Zardari. d ANP iz also d ruling pRT n d northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Bilour’s comments appealing 2 al-Qaida & d Taliban also struck a neRv withn Hs own party, whch iz considRD anti-Taliban & hz 404 sevrl leaders n d fite agAnst d insurgency.

Hs colleague n parliament Bushra Gohar demanded d pRT force Bilour 2 explain himsLf. A pRT spokesman Haji Adeel sed d statement wz Bilour’s personL view, & dat d pRT had sought an explanation frm him.

“We R a secular party,” he sed. “We considR al-Qaida & Taliban az our enemy.”

on Friday, Pakistan obsRvd a national holiday, whch it termed d “Day of luv 4 d Prophet,” & caLd on ppl 2 go out on d streets 2 protest agAnst d anti-Islam film peacefully. bt d protests turnD violent, & @ lEst 21 ppl wer killed. Rioters set fire 2 government & public propRt including a church & sevrl cinemas. A # of Pakistani militant groups dat R officially banned t%k pRt n d demonstrations.

Analysts & columnists hav criticized d Pakistani government’s decision 2 caL a national holiday, saying it wz appeasing rad Islamists. Others hav sed by clng a national holidA d government maNgD 2 kEp thousands of potential demonstrators outside of d capital since aL businesses wer closD.