Vygaudas Ušackas, the European Union's (EU) ambassador to Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that the international community should demonstrate the provocations did not represent its values.
"We strongly condemn the films and all the cartoons which will hurt the beliefs of the Muslim countries and Muslim people. At the same time, I want to say that we should not enter the game, which will be very destructive. I hope that this kind of provocation will stop and that everybody respect the beliefs of others," Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul told BNS.
“We are living in a world that everybody should respect the others' faith. We need to make sure that a minority of people cannot disturb peaceful cooperation that we are building with the world as a whole,“ the Afghan minister said.
Violent protests over an amateur American movie satirizing Prophet Muhammad have been continuing in Afghanistan for the past two days. Some 12 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Tuesday.
Some fear that yet another outbreak of violence may be caused by cartoons published in a French satiric magazine on Wednesday. The cover of Charlie Hebdo publication features a cartoon picturing a Muslim in a wheelchair pushed by a Jewish Orthodox. Titled Intouchables 2, the cartoon refers to a French-made movie about a poor black man helping a disabled aristocrat.
Lithuania's Audronius Ažubalis stated that people engaging in these types of provocations "should take all responsibility for the innocent victims."
"This does not contribute to stability in Afghanistan or Pakistan and the whole Muslim world. People taking such provocative steps with good knowledge of what response they will trigger should be judged accordingly, they should take full responsibility for the innocent casualties that we have when certain provocative information or films see daylight," the minister said.
Asked whether he saw any parallels between the anti-Islamic film and the political campaign of Pussy Riot against the Kremlin in Moscow Cathedral, the minister replied in the negative: "I don't see any. There are consequences and an adequate evaluation. The reaction caused by the film, which is provocative and offensive to believers' feelings, is terrible. Pussy Riot was not an entirely adequate action, which was followed by what we think was an inadequate and too strict sentence."
Ažubalis said that disturbances in Afghanistan would not alter Lithuania's operations in the country, stressing that Lithuanian soldiers and civilians had never caused local protests in the wake of disrespect.
"Lithuanians never get involved in any provocative action. Lithuanians have been working rather successfully and respectfully in the environment which is alien to us by its customs and character," said the diplomacy chief.
He emphasized that Lithuanians would continue helping to train local forces after withdrawal of Lithuanian troops from Ghor province.
Head of the EU mission in Afghanistan Ušackas said at the international conference that the disturbances demonstrated that extremities could trigger other extremities.
"It's important that international community sends a cohesive message that those provocations do not represent the values we share and count on the support of our Muslim brothers to ensure that riots and provocations do not happen," Ušackas told BNS.
