ISLAMABAD - The Foreign Office Monday said the bounty announced by Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour on the anti-Islam moviemaker had nothing to do with the official policy of Pakistan.“The reward was a voice of his (the minster’s) personal views,” the FO spokesperson said in respond to a question about the Bilour’s announcement of bounty.Separately, the Awami National Party (ANP) also distanced itself from the controversial reward. “The statement given by Bilour has been rejected by the party because we believe in nonviolence and our party is known for that,” ANP spokesman Senator Zahid Khan told a foreign news agency.“This kind of thing is beyond our imagination because it will end the difference between ANP and extremists.” Consultations on the matter were in progress, Khan said, but they were being hampered because party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan had gone to the United States to take part in the UN General Assembly.The US State Department condemned the bounty offer as “inflammatory and inappropriate”. It said: “The president (Barack Obama) and secretary of state (Hillary Clinton) have both said the video at the core of this is offensive, disgusting, and reprehensible - but that is no justification for violence, and it is important for responsible leaders to stand up and speak out against violence. Therefore we find Bilour’s announcement is inflammatory and inappropriate. We note that the prime minister’s office has dissociated itself from his comments.”Meanwhile, the British parliamentarians called for ban on visit of Pakistani Bilour to the UK. The Daily Telegraph reported that the minister is a regular visitor to London, where he and his brothers spend large parts of the year in family properties. Conservative MPs want Mrs May to consider whether Bilour should be prevented from coming to Britain because his presence would not be “conducive to the public good”.One MP said: “Ministers should be looking at this. We don’t want extremists like that coming into the country.” Another said: “We just can’t have people who incite violence in this way in Britain.” “Whitehall officials said the comments could affect Bilour’s ability to visit the UK. The Home Office said it was aware of the comments.Sources close to the family said that they feared Bilour would be banned from Britain.  One consequence may be a longer wait before he is allowed entry to Britain to enjoy a break from the scorching heat of Peshawar, where his family’s businesses are based. The minister, 73, and his three younger brothers, Bashir, Ilyas and Aziz, own several flour mills, four cinemas and properties in Pakistan, Dubai and London.“Ghulam does have properties in London. They are joint properties with his family and when he goes to London, he stays there. He stays in their own apartment every season, between June and August when it’s hot here,” said a source close to the family. But while the family is regarded as one of Peshawar’s wealthiest, the minister’s comments have left them isolated while the government and his party leadership consider disciplinary action. Bilour offered the bounty on Saturday during protests against the film in Pakistan.  The federal government on Sunday rejected the reward, which Bilour announced a day after nationwide Friday protests against the film descended into violence.

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