The President of a Pakistani religious youth group who allegedly promised a bounty for the heads of Danish cartoonist who authored caricatures of Mohammed today told AFP that there had been a misunderstanding.

Nawa-i-Waqt (a Pakistani urdu daily) reported that Syed Shahid Gilani, president of the youth group Shabab-i-Milli attached to a prominent religious political party, promised a 500 000 rupee (7000 euro) reward for the killing of the Danish cartoonists (see previous postings here and here).

Gilani told AFP "The remarks attributed to me in this newspaper are the result of a misunderstanding." The story published in Nawa-i-Waqt "created an impression amongst Western media that we had placed a bounty on the heads of the authors of these insulting caricatures." Gilani added that "today (Tuesday) we published a clarification addressed to the attention of all media organisations."

Gilani stated "Shabab-i-Milli believes in the supremacy of the Constitution and the law. All of our protests are situated within the framework of the Constitution." Furthermore, he asserted that his organisation believes "in freedom of the press, but this does not mean that other peoples' religions can be criticised and their values insulted."

Gilani also reiterated his organisation's demand of the Danish government "to adequately punish the cartoonists" because if this does not happen Shabab-i-Milli will extend its protest worldwide.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen made his position clear in October when asked to put pressure on Jyllands Posten, the paper that published the cartoons, to issue an official apology: "The freedom of expression is the very foundation of the Danish democracy … (and) the Danish government has no means of influencing the press."

Source: AFP (registration required)