For the second time in five days Kashmir was roiled by the protests against the anti-Islam video clip posted on Youtube. Thousands of people marched on the roads to give vent to their  hurt religious sentiments.
Kashmir was not alone. In fact, the entire Muslim world was in rage against the video which showed Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in bad light. The protests marked a new low in the relations between US and the Muslim world. Muslims generally saw US as an accomplice in the making of the video. However, the Valley’s separatist leadership stepped in to correct this perception and drew a distinction between US and the offensive video. The Grand Mufti Bashir-u-Din denied that he had called for the US citizens to leave Valley. The video, however, has been deeply hurtful. This is why the anger that poured out onto the streets of Kashmir was spontaneous, the efforts by the leaders to counsel restraint, notwithstanding.  I If this incident has taught us anything, it is the need to check the tendency to denigrate the religions. This spreads hate between the followers of different faiths as the actions of a few get projected onto the entire people and sometimes – as in this case – on a country. The makers of the video in question are responsible for putting the Muslim world in turmoil. Their deliberate act of blasphemy is also responsible for the death of the four American in the attack on US consulate in Libya. Certainly freedom of expression does not mean the freedom to hurt the sentiments of more than a billion people who believe in Islam. And we are not talking only about Islam. All religions are deserving of respect and reverence. Nobody should have the right to lampoon the belief of their adherents.  A At the same time, we should not respond to every lunatic  who chooses to indulge in blasphemous acts to provoke angry reaction. And with internet allowing everybody freedom to upload anything in any part of the world, we should be careful to respond to everything with violent mass protests. This will only encourage interested people to play with sentiments of people.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 IST