Newsweek's retraction of the "flushing" incident hasn't made much of an impact. The Islamic world is still angry at Newsweek, for the initial half-baked publication, and for the caving in to the Bushies. The depth of the feeling continues to take the US by surprise. Aljazeera calls it "worse than Abu Ghraib." Strikes were called in many parts of the Islamic world on Friday, protesting abuse of the Quran. In addition to the student group which initiated the protests several weeks ago, it seems that political parties, NGO's and the Pakistani legislature are now taking up the issue.
Attempts by US officials and/or media to ridicule the Quran issues are adding to the problem.
From
The Pakistan Tribune:Pakistan, along with rest of the Muslim World would observe a ...protest against the sacrilege of the Holy Quran by the bigoted and insane American Military personal of Guantanamo Bay, on Friday, after Juma Prayers.
MORE BELOW
The Pakistan Tribune
reports:
Shops, offices and educational institutions were closed in many parts of Jammu and Kashmir Friday in response to a shutdown call to protest the alleged desecration of the Quran...public transport stayed off the roads and attendance in banks and even government offices was adversely affected...The Kashmir Bar Association, Islamic Students' League and the underground women's militant group, Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of Nation) also supported the strike.
From the beginning of the demonstrations against Quran abuse, the protests have been quite organized. See diary at
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/5/14/13277/8958. The
Manorama News reports that the Chairman of the student movement was arrested and later released:
Chairman of the breakaway Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani...has been released. He was put under house arrest as he was to lead a protest march at Lal Chowk yesterday against the alleged desecration...
The Scotsman reports that Newsweek's "retraction" has not dissuaded many:
The magazine later withdrew its story and apologised, but Pakistan has said this was not enough, and the country's radical Islamic groups are still protesting, saying the magazine had been made a scapegoat by the US.
Uruknet says the Newsweek retraction doesn't pass the smell test:
Having issued a cowardly apology for printing what was, in essence, a legitimate story, Newsweek's editors are seeking to further atone for their sins by uncritically toeing the government's line. Their subservient behavior is but one more demonstration of the spineless and reactionary role of the US media.
The
International News Alliance touched on the protests in Kashmir, and made some rather pointed comments regarding the US and Muslims.
Kashmir shut down on Friday to protest the desecration of the Holy Quran...Former prisoners like Aryat Vahitov and Abdallah Tabarak have narrated behaviour that will only inflame passions if described. The Red Cross has confirmed other incidents. Why did a small item in Newsweek, semi-denied by its editors, catch fire across the world? Why does no Muslim believe the denial or accept George Bush's word that no disrespect was ever meant? Not because Imran Khan held a press conference in Pakistan to encourage anger, but because Washington no longer has any credibility among Muslims. No one believes that America is in Iraq to save democracy; particularly not the Iraqis. The insurgency was supposed to have been crushed by now; the number of daily attacks is somewhere over 70....No one counts Iraqi casualties. Iraqis don't count.
The Islamic Republic News reports that the protests are taking place within the official acts of the government:
Islamabad, June 1
Pakistan-Senate
...in Pakistan's Senate on Wednesday condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran by US investigators at the Guantanamo Bay.
The members from both sides of the aisle were speaking ...seeking a debate on the matter, which sent waves of agony and anguish across the Muslim world.
They said that the descration of Holy Quran or other Islamic symbols and values was totally unacceptable and they demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident with ample representation in the tribunal from Muslim world.
...Professor Khurshid believed that the desecration was part of the US so-called war on terrorism that in fact was a war against Islamic World.
...International laws, human right conventions and the UN charter was being blatantly violated by the US investigators and security personnel, he added.
The Lower House of Pakistan Parliament has already passed a condemnatory resolution in its previous session, and the Upper House of the Parliament is expected to pass unanimous resolution later on the matter...Some senators... also hit out at the US for publication of an insulting cartoon in the Washington Times.
The Pakistan Daily Times is reporting that an international legal challenge to the Bush administration is being prepared:
The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has decided to protest the reported desecration of the Holy Quaran by United States troops in Guantanamo Bay and deputed Dr Farooq Hassan, an international law expert, to draft a petition to be sent to international bodies.
The resolution demanded that the Pakistani government seek custody of the US soldiers who desecrated the holy book, so that they could be tried in Pakistani courts.
Justice (r) Khokhar said that Islam is considered a major challenge to the `new world order' launched by the US. She asked why Muslims detained in Guantanamo were not tried and the world was not informed of the charges against them. She blamed Pakistani rulers for "helping US President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to win their elections" by handing over custody of many Pakistanis to the US.
Aljazeera sums up with this statement today:
This is worse than Abu Ghraib; Abu Ghraib represents the physical and psychological torture of a few Muslims, Quran desecration represents a spiritual, emotional and psychological torture of all Muslims. Even if it turns out that the Newsweek report was false, most people will see it as a cover up and another American attempt to eschew accountability."
Bush, his handlers, and his lackies in the government and the media have got to understand that Islam is not Christianity, and stop treating this issue as something trivial or even ridiculous.