Updated on Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 00:00 IST

Dhaka, Sept 18: Authorities in Bangladesh on Tuesday ordered the arrest of a cartoonist and confiscated copies of a major newspaper's weekly supplement for publishing a "blasphemous" caricature.

"The government has confiscated the issue as the cartoon hurt the religious sentiment of the people. Moreover an order was issued to arrest cartoonist Arifur Rahman," an official statement said, referring to the weekly caricature supplement "Alpin" of the Prothom Alo newspaper.

The mass-circulated daily, however, immediately apologised and announced withdrawal of the cartoon.

A group of people torched copies of the paper after publication of the cartoon yesterday and several Islamic groups protested, saying the drawings ridiculed prophet Mohammad and his close aides.

They demanded "exemplary punishment" of the paper's editor and the cartoonist.

Predominantly Muslim Bangladesh, however, does not have any blasphemy law although it was earlier demanded by the extreme right-wing Islamic groups.

The government said it decided to hold talks with religious leaders on the matter and also urged restrain from the people.

"The government expects all concerned to show restrain and play a responsible role in regard to the unexpected incident," the statement said.

Prothom Alo sources said security forces summoned the cartoonist but it was not yet clear if he has been formally arrested.

Rahman had earlier won an award given by Berlin-based global corruption watchdog transparency international his for anti-graft caricature.

Bureau Report