India has condemned the plan by the pastor of a small Florida church to burn copies of the Holy Qur’ān to mark the 9/11 attacks and called on US authorities to take “strong action” to prevent such an “outrage” being committed. Union Home minister P Chidambaram while deploring Pastor Terry Jones’s move to burn copies of Islam’s holiest text on September 11 also urged the Indian media to exercise “great restraint” over the coverage of the act to help maintain peace and harmony.
“We condemn the action of the pastor. It is totally unbecoming of anyone who claims to be a man of religion. We hope that the US authorities will take strong action to prevent such an outrage being committed.
“While we await the action of the US authorities, we would appeal to the media in India – both print and visual media – to refrain from telecasting visuals or publishing photographs of the deplorable act,” Chidambaram said in a statement.
The Home Minister also said that the move was aimed at increasing “bitterness and strife” between religious groups.
“No one who is interested in maintaining harmony and peace among different sections of the people can condone such action,” he said.
The pastor’s threat to burn copies of the holy Qur’ān had stirred outrage in Islamic world, with Kings and Presidents of Muslim nations joining hands to condemn his plans and asking US President Barack Obama to intervene to stop it. Obama, on his part, said, the pastor’s move could lead to “recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda.”
Afghan police went on alert on September 8 to guard against demonstrations triggered by a U.S. church’s plan to burn a copy of the Qur’ān on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks which has drawn global condemnation.
Plans by Terry Jones, the pastor of a small church in Gainesville, Florida, to burn a copy of the holy Muslim book have added to what U.S. religious leaders have described as an “anti-Muslim frenzy.”
The United Nations said such an act would be “abhorrent.” “On behalf of the United Nations and the whole international community present in Afghanistan, I would like to express in the strongest possible terms our concern and indeed outrage at the announcement by a small religious group abroad of their intention to burn copies of the holy book of the Qur’ān,” United Nations envoy Staffan de Mastura said in a statement issued in Kabul.
Two of the top U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have said the Florida church’s plan risked undermining U.S. President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.
The White House and the State Department have also issued stern warnings, making it clear Obama’s administration deplored the plan. General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the plan could trigger retaliation against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” Petraeus said in a statement.
On September 8, the Vatican added to world condemnation of the planned Qur’ān burning. “These deplorable acts of violence, in fact, cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community,” the Vatican said in a statement. “Each religion, with its respective sacred books, places of worship and symbols, has the right to respect and protection.”
Germany’s leading Jewish group joined the chorus of condemnation, saying it evoked the mass killing of Jews in the Holocaust that followed Nazi book burnings. “The idea is terrible and repulsive,” said Charlotte Knobloch, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews.
Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA), an advocacy organisation dedicated to safeguard India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, is outraged at the planned burning of the Holy Qur’ān by a pastor in Florida. Rasheed Ahmed, President, IMC-USA stated that “this is a planned hate crime, which is not protected by the spirit of the First Amendment.”
IMC-USA is encouraged to see the international condemnation of this vile, and bigoted act. The Vatican, President Obama, and Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram are among some of the high profile dignitaries who condemned this act of extreme hate, especially coming from a self professed religious person.
IMC-USA also appreciates Cardinal Oswald Garcia of Mumbai, India’s statement that the Florida congregation’s planned burning of the Holy Scripture is “totally insensitive and disrespectful act toward the holy Qur’ān,”
While acknowledging the statements of these influential leaders, Ahmed also expressed his dismay at the silence of several other religious and political figures, at this proposed act of intense hate, and intolerance.
IMC-USA President, Rasheed Ahmed noted that “Anyone who claims to be a Christian and yet burns the very scripture that honours and respects biblical prophets including Jesus and Mary exhibits both deep seated bigotry and extreme ignorance.”
IMC-USA hoped that the US law enforcement agencies will keep the extremists in check and prevent incidents leading to the violation of basic human rights, and acts of violence against its minorities. IMC-USA further hoped that the US would not allow its extremist elements to imitate the actions of the extremist Hindutva groups like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) who burned a copy of the holy Qur’ān in front of the United Nations office in New Delhi.
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen also condemned the Qur’an-burning plan, saying it posed a risk to allied troops in Afghanistan. Such a move violated the NATO alliance’s “values” and “there is a risk that it may also have a negative impact on security for our troops,” he told reporters during a visit to Washington. “I think such actions are in strong contradiction with all the values that we stand for and fight for,” Rasmussen said.
At least 24 interfaith leaders in the Gainesville, Florida, area, near Jones’ church, planned activities to adamantly reject the Dove World’s planned Qur’ān burning. In a statement the leaders said: “We state clearly the act of burning the sacred scripture of Islam has no place in our faith, our religious communities, our town, or in our nation.”
Burned, Shot Qur’ān Found at Many Mosques
A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation on September 13 called for stepped up police protection at mosques nationwide after a copy of the Qur’ān that had been burned and apparently shot, was discovered a day earlier at a Tennessee mosque.
Mosques in California, Tennessee, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, and Florida have faced vocal opposition or have been targeted by hate incidents in recent months. Over the weekend, burned copies of the Qur’ān were found outside mosques in Michigan, Tennessee and Illinois.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the Qur’ān desecration was just one of a number of similar incidents targeting American mosques in recent days.
An official with the Annoor Mosque (Muslim Community of Knoxville) in Knoxville, Tenn., said worshippers discovered the desecrated Qur’ān at the entrance to the facility around noon on September 12. The incident has been reported to Knoxville police (Report #10-036-084) and to the FBI.
In a similar incident on Saturday, CAIR reported that a burned copy of the Qur’ān was found at a Michigan mosque.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is asking the FBI to launch a hate-crime investigation following the discovery Saturday of a burned Qur’ān in East Lansing. Torn pages of the Qur’ān were found at the front of the Islamic Centre of East Lansing. Some of the pages appeared to be smeared with faeces.
CAIR has launched a nationwide “Learn, Don’t Burn” educational initiative in response to an extremist Gainesville, Fla., church’s now-cancelled plan to burn copies of the Qur’ān on September 11. It also recently launched a national public service announcement (PSA) campaign designed to challenge growing Islamophobia in America.