The Christian community’s successful efforts to get the Pakistani Govt to ban the Da Vinci Code has been backed by the Muttahida-Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) - a rare example of cooperation between the conservative elements of Pakistan’s 2 largest religions.
Hundreds of Christians in the Pakistani city of Islamabad have held a protest against The Da Vinci Code.
Carrying banners and placards, they noisily denounced both the film and book as blasphemous and offensive.
But the film is not likely to be shown in Pakistan after the federal minister for religious and minorities affairs said he would ban it.
The minister said the film - which was released worldwide earlier this month - upset peoples’ feelings.
Last week, a six-party opposition Islamic alliance held joint demonstrations with Christian groups to demand the film be banned.
On Wednesday, a number of Christian organisations, led by elected representatives and Christian religious leaders, again staged a demonstration.
They carried placards and banners demanding a ban of both The Da Vinci Code film and book.
While protesters chanted slogans against the film’s producers, successive speakers said that such films created hatred among various communities.
The book has been sold in Pakistan for quite some time now, but the chances of it appearing on the big screen further dimmed with the announcement by the Minister for Religious and Minorities Affairs, Ijazul Haq, that he wanted to ban both the Da Vinci Code film and book.
He was speaking to a delegation of Christians at a meeting of the National Commission for Minorities in Islamabad.
The minister said the movie hurt the feelings of the Christian community.