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| India-Pakistan |
| Let's also ban Winnie the Pooh |
| 2006-02-22 |
| Let's also ban Winnie the Pooh Blasphemy doesn't begin with caricatures of the Prophet nor does it end with lampooning Islam, says Kanchan Gupta The violent protest by Muslims across the world against the publication of 12 caricatures of Prophet Mohammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten is showing no indication of petering out. Regardless of abject apologies by Danish authorities and the attempt by some Muslim leaders to calm passions, each day brings its share of stories of Muslims going on the rampage and clerics encouraging the faithful to slaughter the cartoonists and reap rich rewards for the murders in both this and the other world. While there has been no outpouring of support for those who have been attacking Danish diplomatic missions and burning that country's national flag, the flood of commiseration for hurt Muslim sentiments is truly awesome. Condemnation of the wilful attempt to mock the Prophet is entirely justified, as is the demand that those who decide media content should exercise greater caution in future. There can, however, be no support for those Muslims who have been indulging in wanton violence -- looting of Hindu shops, as happened in Hyderabad after Friday prayer or the murder of a 60-year-old Catholic priest, Fr Andrea Santoro, in Turkey, apart from the torching of Danish missions -- nor should any legitimacy be accorded to the call for killing the cartoonists -- Al Qaeda has announced a bounty of 100 kg of gold, a Pakistani cleric has offered $ 1 million and an animal fat trader who enjoys the exalted position of Minister for Minority Welfare in Uttar Pradesh has promised Rs 51 crore to those willing to murder in the name of Islam. But those who are seeking to play a pro-active role in assuaging "hurt" Muslim sentiments, including the UPA Government which has preposterously conveyed a formal protest to Denmark, the Congress Government of Andhra Pradesh which has equally ludicrously dragooned the State Assembly into passing a resolution condemning the cartoons and what AP has described as "Muslim supporters of Hindu right wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party" burning the Danish national flag in a pathetic me-too-outraged response, are unwilling to accept that blasphemy does not begin with caricaturing Prophet Mohammad, nor does it end with lampooning Islam. In 2002, Egyptian and other Arab television channels telecast a 41-part serial, A Knight Without a Horse, based on the spurious document called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a work of fiction produced in Russia in 1903 to incite and legitimise anti-Jewish pogroms. Under pressure from American Jews and the Government of Israel, the US lodged a half-hearted protest with the Egyptian Government and Arab regimes where the programme was telecast. Predictably, the 'protest' was ignored by both Arab palace and street. As if that were not enough, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, funded by liberal Governments in Europe and hailed as a symbol of secular knowledge, put on public display what it claimed to be an ancient copy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". There was no outrage, not even a whimper of protest by secular Governments at this insidious attempt to legitimise anti-Semitism. Nobody dashed off letters of protest, nor were resolutions passed condemning this disgraceful incitement of anti-Jewish sentiments. On the contrary, the overwhelming sentiment, more so in Scandinavian countries, was that of "serves the Jews right". "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" owes its origin to anti-Semitism of early-20th century that paved the way for Adolf Hitler's gas chambers and the Holocaust. It purports to be a secret blueprint prepared by Zionists to establish Jewish control over the world. It is sufficient to incite the cruellest of passions among those who have been taught from childhood to hate Jews. It is as spurious as the Islamists' cockamamie claim that 9/11 was a Jewish conspiracy. It is as despicable as the sly inclusion of a photograph of a pig squealing contest, organised by farmers in rural France, in the inflammatory booklet that has been put out by clerics of Denmark to draw the ummah's attention to the caricatures of the Prophet. But it is not Jews alone who have had to suffer anti-Semitism in silence with the liberal world refusing to condemn the hateful propaganda of Arabs and thus mollycoddling spiteful Muslims who make no effort to hide their contempt for the faith of others. Copts in Egypt dare not display the symbol of their faith or its substitute, a fish, because it would invite instant violent retribution. An Indian Hindu expatriate who died in Cairo and whose family did not have the resources to fly her body to India for cremation, had to consign the mortal remains to the flames of a garbage incinerator. Next day, local newspapers criticised the Government for allowing such pagan practices. Elsewhere in Arabia, public display of any faith other than Islam is prohibited; violation of the law could lead to public decapitation. The hugely influential Sunni imam Youssef al-Qaradawi, who as a guest of London's Red mayor Ken Linvingstone praised suicide bombers at an official reception, runs a popular website which lists several fatwas justifying jihad against Hindus and Hinduism and encourages Muslims to join terror brigades to fight India's infidels. In Iran, newspapers routinely organise competitions to caricature Jews and deride their faith. No Islamic country acknowledges the Holocaust which Muslim scholars wave away as Jewish propaganda. Such blatant abuse, of course, has never invited the mildest criticism, nor have the hate-mongers been rebuked in a manner remotely similar to the reprimand to which Jyllands-Posten and the Danish cartoonists are now being subjected. Hate speech is illegal, as it should be, in most European countries, including Britain. But Muslims are spared from its purview on the specious plea that the hate they spew is integral to their faith. Yes, this is ridiculous. But so is the move to impose a ban on Christmas, Santa, kissing in school plays, piggy banks and Winnie the Pooh because they "hurt" Muslim sentiments. As Daniel Pipes writes in one of his incisive articles, "The benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, instructed employees that all pig-related novelty items are henceforth banned from its offices, so as not to offend Muslim staff. This includes pig toys, porcelain figures, calendars, and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet." The reason for such capitulation that has emboldened the tribe of Haji Yaqoob Qureshi can be found in Youssef al-Qaradawi's boastful claim, "We must tell Europeans, we can live without you. But you cannot live without us." He might as well have said the world can't live without being in thraldom of frightful Islamist retribution. For evidence, look at the violence that has been unleashed in the name of protesting against caricaturing the Prophet. |
| Posted by:john |