Pakistan diplomat to U.S.: "Lay off our Prophet"
Pakistan U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon / CBS News
Pakistan Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon tells CBS News' Pamela Falk that if the U.S. wants to stop the attacks against American embassies, to "lay off our prophet, just lay off our prophet [Mohammed]. Is that asking too much?"
(CBS News) On a deadly day of violent protests in Pakistan, when thousands rampaged in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, burned American flags. and condemned the anti-Muslim film, Pakistani U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon told CBS News' Pamela Falk that if the U.S. wants to stop the attacks against American embassies, "just lay off our Prophet, just lay off our Prophet. Is that too much to ask?"
Friday was declared an official holiday, a "Day of Love for the Prophet" and although officials urged non-violence in protests, some analysts in Pakistan and around the world, criticized the government for a day of killing and mob action that may have been, by design or by accident, seen as government support for the anger.
In one of the largest protests of those that have taken place recently around the world, at least 19 people died and dozens of business were torched, particularly Western restaurants and businesses.
In an attempt to prevent cellphone-detonated bombs, the government of Pakistan -- the nation with one of the largest Muslim populations in the world -- blocked cellphone service in over a dozen cities, a act that has widespread effect in a nation with 120 million cellphone subscribers.
Pakistan hit by deadly riots over anti-Muslim film
Despite tear gas and live ammunition fired by Pakistani police to quell the violence, and TV ads purchased by the U.S. Embassy in an attempt to distance the U.S. government from the film, anger was in the streets throughout Pakistan.
In commentary that is likely to stir controversy, Pakistani diplomat Haroon gave his perspective as a life-long diplomat to CBS News.
Watch Abdullah Hussain Haroon's interview with CBS News' Pamela Falk below:
"Is what happened in Pakistan a manifestation of the people of Pakistan? Yes. Of the government of Pakistan? No," Haroon said. "If the government of Pakistan was acquiescent of what is happening in Pakistan [the violence], they wouldn't be firing teargas and bullets at the protestors."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thanked the Pakistani government for protecting the U.S. missions in the country and lamented the deaths in the protests -- and was flanked by Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in Washington.
Haroon had more to say about the overall relationship, lamenting that American aid is too often given for military equipment, and not enough to help Pakistan bring its own people up from poverty.
Asked about the large U.S. aid that goes to Pakistan, Haroon responded. Angry at what he considers a "punitive relationship," where Pakistan "is still scapegoated," he said, "We don't need your money, we don't need your aid." Rather, he said, the Pakistani government needs preferential trade, as the U.S. has given Jordan and Egypt.
"Let's be honest about it," he said. "It's a punitive relationship, where if we do the right thing, we get rewarded; and, the moment we try to think for ourselves, we get banged over the head with a brick or a stone or a stick. I don't think that is an equitable relationship."
Asked about Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the Central Intelligence Agency track down Osama bin Laden, and has been arrested and sentenced to almost three dozen years in jail, he said, "Every country worries about sovereignty. We have him because we value our national security; he should have come to us, this is what our government's point of view is."
The Pakistani diplomat, outraged at the souring relationship between Pakistan and the U.S., said that there was a great deal of hostility by the Pakistani people to American policy because of the drone attacks against civilians; the removal of Osama bin Laden without Pakistani consent; and the belief that the U.S. has supported governments in the world that did not distribute wealth to its people. He said that things were not always that way.
"The Muslim world has been entirely very friendly to America and the West. The Muslim world had a strong people-to-people belief at one moment and then the people-to-people belief moved away and became more of a government-to-government belief and then, oppressive governments were given what people would view as a license by the West or America, which then started creating the problem.
"They would ask: Why am I poor? Because the Americans don't treat me right. Why don't I have medicine for a dying child? Because the Americans have squeezed the money out of us. It is not the truth, necessarily, but it was the perception. And, nobody tried to reach out. You had some great institutions that used to reach out at one time in the '50s and '60s, but they are not there today."
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack 204 Comments
- Who were the 4 U.S. citizens killed in drone strikes?
- Mexican volcano on verge of eruption 15 Photos
- Graphic video: Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack Play Video
- People cling to car in "sidewalk skiing" stunt Play Video
- Volcano's rumbles may signal coming to life Play Video
- Graphic video: knife-wielding suspect talks to camera Play Video
- N. Korea sends top envoy to China as tensions mount
I agree with you, we shouldn't be going around bombing the entire world as if we are the masters
This 8th rate "movie" that is at least purported to be behind all of this unrest is not a "product" of the US!
Even HE is "using" this to futher a political agenda, it is well apparent!
Free speech does not give anyone the right to pass judgement or ridicule others. Try standing in front of your boss and telling him "He is a bastard", and he tell you precisely what free-speech is!
Or try to threat anyone, and you will know what free speech is, when cops walk over for questioning!
Haroon, like every other Pakistani I've ever met, is a blowhard with his hand out.
By the way what in the hell are we doing in Afghanistan? Occupying another landlocked nation...Right!
Attempts to civilize the human race also became the same justification to divide the human race.
Thousands of living species have came on the face of this planet and died off into extinction. It will be no different for us.
I have often pondered if the consciousness of any other living thing around us has any kinds of bonds to its' creator and aspirations to remain forever bonded to it, even after death.
God didn't create religion. Man did.
Religion often proves to be the most divisive concept on Earth, yet people patronize it on belief it brings them forever closer to their creator.
It's strange how people want their creator to believe they are worthy of the eternal bond, yet those very same people advertised their division in a self-righteous way and often condemned and disrespected anyone who disagrees with him.
It's even stranger how some how fill their entire hearts, minds, and souls with religion fall into the temptation to proclaim their selves more worthy or even more compatible to the eternal bond with their creator than anyone else.
Lions and Lambs lay down and die that same way. The earthly experience is simply a distraction with a beginning and an end.
@CaptainSmollett I am no fan of Obama, however I hold you to the same standards as I would hold anyone else... for starters... what the hell are you talking about? I know what you mean about the bias media, but you need to give some facts before you make such baseless accusations about the President. You can't just come in here with some unsubstantiated Rush talking points and expect to be taken seriously.
@Repubs That sir, was funny. LOL.