ISLAMABAD, May 10: The government on Tuesday hinted at the possibility of initiating legal actions against reported desecration of the Holy Quran by the US military interrogators and publication of an allegedly derogatory cartoon about Pakistan by an American newspaper.

The indication came on the second day of an inconclusive debate in the National Assembly on the alleged desecration at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was condemned by speakers from both the opposition and treasury benches, most of them calling for an apology from Washington.

Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said Pakistan’s Ambassador in Washington Jahangir Karamat had been asked to take up the matter with the US State Department and added that the whole house should pursue the matter in the absence of a satisfactory US reply.

Apparently referring to the cartoon carried by the daily Washington Times depicting Pakistan’s role in the US-led war against terrorism as that of a faithful dog, he said: “I think a legal notice will be the best option.”

Law and Justice Minister Mohammad Wasi Zafar said he thought a case against Quranic desecration could be instituted under international and US laws and called for a trial of those who committed this act.

“The government itself should pursue the case,” he said while participating in the debate on several adjournment motions tabled on Monday by members from both the treasury and opposition benches based on a report in the latest issue of US weekly Newsweek.

But opposition members seemed to have little confidence in statements from the treasury benches as they continued accusing the government of being subservient to US policies and unable to stand up on matters of national or religious honour.

However, former National Alliance member Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, who joined the PML last year when some allied groups merged with the ruling party, aroused repeated cheers from opposition benches when he asked his party president and other politicians to lead public protests on the issue to prove their sincerity.

He criticised long traffic jams often seen on roads due to tight security arrangements for President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and asked: “Why the president should be made a hostage?”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader Nisar Ali Khan told the house that the report in the May 9 issues of the Newsweek was not about a new incident as, he said, he saw similar reports in British newspapers during a visit to London in July 2004 although no Muslim country raised a voice against the alleged insult of Islam by Guantanamo Bay interrogators.

He said he thought the National Assembly could now ask why there had been American denial so far of such acts at the Guantanamo Bay base housing suspected Al Qaeda militants, whether those acts were in conformity with the US policy and, if they were not, why no action had been taken against people who did it.

The Newsweek did not specify the period when, according to its sources, the interrogators, “in an attempt to rattle suspects, placed copies of the holy Quran on toilets and, in at least one case, flushed a holy book down the toilet”.

A Christian member of the ruling party, Haroon Qaiser, said the Guantanamo incident reflected a sick mind and not a Christian behaviour and asked all assembly members to be careful in their comments to avoid casting any reflection on Pakistani Christians.

Most of the 25 members from opposition and treasury benches who spoke on Tuesday accused the United States of targeting Muslims in the garb of war against terrorism, some of them urging the government to move for convening a special session of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Several opposition members complained of lack of government interest in the debate because of mostly empty treasury benches, where hectic chats of former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali with other party colleagues received a lot of focus from the galleries because of his reported differences with Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

The house was adjourned till 10am on Thursday when it will resume the debate on the adjournment motions that began on Monday.