Danish PM’s India visit put off for fear of Muslim backlash

NEW DELHI: India said on Saturday that Denmark’s prime minister had put off a visit to New Delhi due next month, amid fears that the trip could provoke fresh protests by Muslims against cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.

Anders Fog Rasmussen’s visit was planned much before the controversy over the cartoons, first published in a Danish newspaper, erupted earlier this year, triggering a storm of protests by Muslims in the Middle East and Asia. He had been scheduled to arrive in India on April 2 for a five-day visit. “The two sides have found that the proposed timing for the visit was not optimal,” an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement without elaborating.

But ties between the two countries were “strong and excellent” and both looked forward to the visit at an “early date”, the statement added.

No new date has been set for Rasmussen’s visit to India.

India, home to more than 140 million Muslims, the third largest Islamic population after Indonesia and Pakistan, has witnessed large but peaceful protests across the country against the cartoons.

At least 50 people have been killed in protests elsewhere in Asia and the Middle East, three Danish embassies attacked and many Muslims have boycotted Danish goods due to the row.

Islam considers images of prophets disrespectful and caricatures blasphemous. agencies

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