By Albert Thyrniang
“There is no justification for violence”, said the US President, Barak Obama while receiving the slain bodies of Christopher Stevens and three others killed in Libya as a ‘reaction’ to a movie made in the US portraying prophet Mohammed as a philanderer who approved child sex. Sam Bacile, an American Israeli who made the film also told Wall Street Journal that “Islam is cancer”. Excerpts of the film was dubbed in Arabic and posted on YouTube. It sparked off mob violent protests all over the Arab world storming and putting US embassies under siege. The protests started in Cairo (Egypt) of North Africa, quickly spread to the Middle East to South East Asia and even to Europe.
The protests have much to do with the anti-American sentiments among Muslims. The United States of America has been trying to impose its ideals of democracy on ‘non-democratic’ Muslim countries. It provided military and logistic supports to opposition parties to overthrow Egypt’s Mubarak and Libya’s Gaddafi. Earlier it ‘unilaterally’ and ‘arbitrarily’ invaded Afghanistan and Iraq with the help of NATO. Its soldiers who are still present in these countries committed horrible and terrible human right violations. Pictures of the US Marines urinating on the dead Taliban fighters were splashed all over the world. The sexual abuses and tortures of Iraqi prisoners were also caught on camera and beamed on television world wide. They were disgusting and sickening, offensive and repulsive, barbaric and uncivilized. They were inhuman. They crossed all limits of human decency. Obama should also tell his own soldiers, “There is no justifcation for such crimes”. They may be Taliban, Al-Qaeda or Saddam Hussain’s soldiers; they may be terrorists, but there is absolutely no excuse for such abominable things. It is clear that the Taliban, the Al-Qaeda, the remnants of Saddam Hussain, Mubarak and Gaddafi and many anti-American elements who see the US as infidel number one are involved in the on-gong violence. They are out to revenge the enemies for their ‘misdeeds’ at the slightest instance. The root of the problem is the faulty American policy towards Muslims countries. How is it, that the US president is so touchy when Americans are affected? Through wars and invasion, America has killed hundreds in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. At its behest regimes were replaced in Muslim world. This is also violence. Some even call it ‘state sponsored terrorism’. Other people can turn around and tell Obama firmly, “There is no justification for such violence”.
It is true there is no justification for Muslims to be violent, to kill and destroy property. No one has the right to insult the Prophet Mohammed or the Koran. But is killing a lesser crime than insulting the prophet? Is insulting the Holy Prophet a greater crime than killing? Is insulting the prophet a justification for killing? May be Muslims tend to be violent when anything against their religion is said. They tend to be intolerant. Muslims need to look within and introspect. There have been other cases when some elements among the Muslims exhibited intolerance.
Taslima Nasreen, the Bangadeshi author has been living in exile since 1994 because of her controversial books including “Lajja” (Shame). The fighter of women’s and human rights, secularism and freedom of expression was forced to leave her own country and flee from one country to another because she criticised Islam and religion in general. She earned the wrath of fundamentalists. Imans issued fatwa. Fanatical organisations offered hefty sums on her head. She was threatened, intimidated and attached by mobs where ever she went at functions and seminars. She was even house-arrested by the Indian government in 2008 for more than seven months. She saw her books banned in several countries.
The British Indian, Salman Rushdie is another writer who had to face similar fates. The Booker Prize winner (for “Midnight’s Children”) evoked and provoked violent protests in several Muslim countries when his “The Satanic Verses” was published. Death threats followed, including a fatwa issued by Ayotollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme religious leader of Iran, on 14 February 1989. Last year he was forced not to attend Jaipur’s book fair as radical Muslims groups threatened his security. Recently there were reports that no Indian distributors are willing to market a movie based on “Midnight’s Children” as they feared violence. This is giving in to the small minority intolerant lunatics.
Monopoly of intolerance is, however, not reserved for Muslim fundamentalist organisations and individuals. The Bajrang Dal, RSS and the host of right wing Sangh Parivar are no different. The late MF Hussain had to live in exile and even gave up his Indian citizenship and died as a Qatar national. Hindu religious fanatics could not tolerate the celebrated painter painting Hindu deities in the nude though for them the highly rated stone carvings which adorn the exteriors and interiors of temples are arts. They also conveniently forget Kama Sutra! The Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee who painted over 60, 000 pieces on the canvas was bitterly hated by Hindu fringe groups. They carried out protests of intimidation and violence against him and his family. A series of cases were also filed against him.
Kamdhamal is fresh in our mind. The Bajrang Dal workers went on a rampage killing people, butchering animals, burning houses and raping women over a false propaganda. Graham Staines and his sons were burned alive because he was allegedly involved in forced conversion. The Babri Masjid was razed to the ground because of an unproved existence of a Ram temple in Ayodhya centuries back. The Gujarat riots happened because of the news that Kar Sevaks were killed earlier. The Sikh riots took place because Indira Gandhi was killed by her body guards. From the tiniest to the biggest, no reason is sufficient for violent reaction. There is no self given justice. We live in a country/world governed by law. No one should take law in his/her own hands. Justice is through law. “Eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”, said Mahatma Gandhi.
There is a fundamentalistic attitude in other religions too. History is loaded with examples of intolerance. There is no space and no need to discuss them here. Mr. Terry Jones, a Christian pastor who was one of the promoters of Sam Bacile’s movie wanted to burn the Koran in 2010. It resulted in riots in Afghanistan. Why on earth did he want to burn the Holy book? What was he going to get out of it? Is he normal? Is he also not intolerant? What will he feel if someone burns the Bible? The maker of the recent controversial movie, Sam Bacile allegedly depicted Prophet Mohammed as a philanderer. He was arrested only when violence spread all over the world. Why was he not arrested earlier? Has he the right to offend Muslims the way he did?
There is no justification for violence. It is undisputable. It is also equally important to understand that freedom is not absolute. Like other (fundamental) rights there are reasonable restrictions. People like Sam Bacile, Terry Jones, Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie and others think otherwise. For publicity and fame they think they have the right and the freedom to hurt others. We live in a diverse and pluralistic world. Citizens or aliens cannot cross the Lakhsman Rekha. India is a diverse country. Cultural, racial, linguistic, regional, religious differences are part and parcel of this nation. All must be sensitive to the sentiments of others. However, there is no justification for violence even if our sentiments are hurt. Protest, yes but not violently!