The caricatures/cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September last and some European newspapers also reprinted them later. The publication has enraged Muslims world-wide. President Pervez Musharraf has also condemned the blasphemous cartoons.
Talking to media men in Rawalpindi on Friday, he said such outrageous actions could lead to clash of civilisations, which must be avoided by respecting each other's faith.
"Entire Muslim Ummah is outraged over this inflammatory act," he said.
Musharraf said the Pakistani nation has been saddened and outraged over this inflammatory act, adding such acts could not be justified under the pretext of freedom of expression.
The National Assembly, in its resolution, pressed the government to summon ambassadors of countries where cartoons were published and warn them of strong backlash.
The House called upon the European Union to take political, administrative and legislative measures to ensure that bigots and blasphemers do not take the shelter of freedom of expression to target other people and religions in future.
The NA resolution that was drafted after more than three-hour long debate said, "The National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously and in the strongest possible terms condemns the publications of highly derogatory and blasphemous caricatures against the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), which has caused a wave of anger, resentment and anguish across the length and breadth of Pakistan."
It said: "The Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), is a symbol of peace, tolerance and forgiveness as is borne out by his entire life history. To portray him in such diabolical terms is not a manifestation of freedom of press but actually tantamount to a serious abuse of the freedom of press."
"Islam enjoins respect for all prophets and all religions but as Muslim we also expect that other religions and civilisation should reciprocate to Islam in a similar manner," the draft of the resolution said.
"We call upon the government to summon the ambassadors of the countries in which these blasphemous caricatures have been published and warn them of the strong backlash amongst the people of Pakistan and the entire Muslim Ummah if such distortions of our religion continues to take place in the West," both treasury and opposition members said in the resolution.
The resolution further said: "We call upon the democracies of Europe and particularly European Union to take political, administrative and legislative measures to ensure that bigots and blasphemers do not take the shelter of freedom of expression to target other people and religions and embark on a path of hatred, bigotry and violence to divide the people of the world.
Parliamentarians sitting on both sides of the aisle and with full support of minority members condemned the publications of derogatory cartoons.
Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain clubbed all the adjournment motions on the issue and allowed an extensive debate, which was somehow poorly attended.
Taking part in the debate, lawmakers demanded of the government to declare ambassadors persona non grata of those countries where these caricatures were published.
They not only asked the government to put up the matter before the United Nations but also urged to severe diplomatic ties with countries, including Denmark, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Some of members were of the view that the government following the bold stance of Saudi Arabia should also boycott the products of these European countries.
DELAY RESENTED: The Leader of the Opposition, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, opened the debate and said the entire Muslim Ummah is protesting over the publication of derogatory cartoons.
But he condemned the government over its delay in joining the protests taking place the world over. The Maulana was of the view that the discriminatory attitude of the West towards Muslims would lead to a serious backlash amongst the people of Pakistan and the entire Ummah.
The opposition leader asked the government to recall its ambassadors from European countries where these derogatory caricatures of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) were published.
Members from opposition parties also took part in the debate. M.P Bhandara urged the government to approach European Union parliaments to pass legislation to curb such acts in future.
PPP-P secretary general Raja Pervez Ashraf accused the government of having failed to represent the sentiments of the people of Pakistan on the issue.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali, Imran Khan, Tahir Iqbal, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Samia Raheel Qazi and number of other members spoke on the occasion and condemned the incident in strong words.
Earlier, the Senators voted to pass a unanimous resolution, saying the cartoons had "hurt the faith and feelings of Muslims all over the world".
"This vicious, outrageous and provocative campaign cannot be justified in the name of freedom of expression or of the press," the Upper House resolution said.
Senators urged the government to consider other economic and political actions.
"The Senate recommends that the government of Pakistan should consider other economic and political actions to prevent uncivilised behaviour of the Danish daily," the resolution added.