ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistan's parliament unanimously passed a resolution Friday condemning cartoons of Islam's prophet in European newspapers, and small protests were held in major cities as anger grew in this Islamic nation.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf also expressed outrage, saying the cartoon could not be justified as freedom of expression.
The resolution said the cartoons -- first published in Denmark -- were a "vicious, outrageous and provocative campaign" that has "hurt the faith and feelings of Muslims all over the world."
The cartoons have enraged Muslims because Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet to prevent idolatry. Pakistan is a conservative Muslim nation, and anyone insulting the Prophet Mohammad or Islam's holy book, the Quran, can be sentenced to death.
One of the caricatures shows the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Another portrays him holding a sword, his eyes covered by a black rectangle.
The Pakistani president said, "I condemn the publication of these cartoons in the strongest terms," the private Geo TV network reported.
The military leader warned the cartoons would only escalate the "clash of civilizations" between the West and the Islamic world, the network said.
An official from the president's office's confirmed that Musharraf had condemned the cartoons, but declined to give details of what he said.
About 800 people protested in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, chanting "Death to Denmark" and "Death to France." They also chanted "Death to America," although the cartoons have not been published in the U.S.
Another rally in the southern city of Karachi drew 1,200 people, but only about 20 protesters showed up for a rally in the eastern city of Lahore.
The protesters urged the government to cut diplomatic ties with nations where the cartoons have been published.
"The ambassadors of Denmark and France should be sent back," said Liaquat Baluch, a senior leader of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum, which comprises the country's six anti-U.S. religious groups.
He said his group believes in freedom of press, but "we will not allow anyone to insult the Quran and the prophet."
"We will continue protests until Denmark and France apologize in some international forum for hurting the feelings of billions of Muslims," he said.
Pakistani lawmakers planned to vote on the resolution Tuesday but they took it up earlier in light of the growing anger.
"We will not tolerate the publication of such blasphemous cartoons. We condemn them," Sen. Khurshid Ahmed said.
The drawings first ran in Denmark's largest broadsheet, Jyllands-Posten, in September. They were reprinted Wednesday in France Soir and several other European papers rallying to defend freedom of expression.
Protesters in some countries have targeted European embassies, and the Danish Embassy in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, has taken security precautions, said the ambassador, Bent Wigotski.
"We are in contact with police, and I believe the matter is well in hand," Wigotski told The Associated Press.
He added that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has explained in an interview with Arabic television that the newspaper that originally published the cartoons has apologized.
The prime minister has also said that while the Danish government could not interfere with the freedom of the press, it was in favor of "dialogue between religions and civilizations," Wigotski said.
