Danish cartoonist says he has no regrets

    London: Kurt Westergaard, the controversial Danish cartoonist whose blasphemous caricatures in Jyllands-Posten, a provincial Danish paper, have sparked worldwide furore among the Muslim community, has said that he had no regrets for drawing those cartoons or their publication in the newspapers. He said he depended on the Danish secret service - PET - for his security. Defending the cartoons on the grounds of freedom of expression and the press, he said that the inspiration behind drawing them was "terrorism". One of the dozen cartoons drawn by Westergaard had appeared in the Danish newspaper in late September. In a written interview given to The Herald newspaper in Glasgow, the cartoonist said that he had not anticipated the magnitude of worldwide uproar his cartoons would provoke. "No...No," he wrote in reply to a question whether if he had anticipated his cartoons would generate so much of uproar. To another question if he regretted drawing the cartoon or its publication, he said: "No". "The inspiration for the drawings was terrorism - which gets its spiritual ammunition from Islam," The News quoted him as saying in his replies to written questions. He reportedly defended the caricature as "a protest against the fact that we perhaps are going to have double standards (in Denmark and Western Europe) as for freedom of expression and freedom of the press." When asked if he thought his life would ever get back to normal, Westergaard replied: "Now, and then I look over my shoulder, but I trust the PET (the Danish secret service). I hope so."

Muslims protest in Lucknow against Prophet's cartoon

     Lucknow: Hundreds of Muslims in Lucknow on Sunday took to the streets protesting against the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed. Agitated Muslims marched with placards reading "Down with Denmark." They blamed the western countries for projecting the peace-loving Muslims as terrorists and said they would not tolerate any kind of insult to their Prophet. "The cartoons of Prophet Mohammed published in Denmark is an offence to our religion and we cannot take the insult. The Indian government should call back its ambassador from Denmark. We also protest against the forthcoming visit of US President George Bush," said Kalbe Jawad, a Muslim cleric. The protestors raised slogans against US President George W. Bush, demanding that the Indian government should take steps to get the visit cancelled. The protestors also damaged a cafe outlet in the heart of the city.

    Protests have flared up across the Muslim world against the cartoons since it were published in a Danish newspaper and reprinted by several European newspapers. At least 11 people have been killed this year in protests over the cartoons, one of which showed Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which has carried out several suicide bombings in Israel, threatened more violence, even as a leading Saudi Muslim cleric called for mercy in punishing anyone mocking the Prophet. The Danish newspaper editor who commissioned the cartoons was sent on holiday after suggesting he would print Iranian cartoons on the Holocaust. The Danish government has expressed regret over the publication of the cartoons, but has refused an apology saying that it is a matter for the newspaper. Despite protests and boycotts across the Muslim world, the cartoons have now appeared in papers in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway and Poland also.

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