Dateline San Diego, CA: 2/19/06
If you would like to have a peek at the mentality of the Islamic world that has called for, among other things, the beheading of the dangerous Danish cartoonists who dared to draw the image of the Prophet Mohammed, see the below article. And don't forget about the title of the article. It does not tell you what the article is about -- for that, one must read about 2/3 of the way down the page.
I strongly encourage you, in light of the severe rioting the cartoons have set off, to try to get a flavor for the remaining informative 1/3 by reading the first 2/3 of the page. And try to put it into some context.
What are the author/editor's definitions of "peaceful" and "secular"? They are not adjectives that immediately pop to MY mind when I think of Islamics who seek to behead Danish cartoonists or for that matter those Islamics who go on riotous rampages over the transgressions committed against Islam by Danes in Denmark, ostensibly because they were so upsetting to Islamics world-wide.
Give 'em a corned beef, some rye bread and good, plain Yellow mustard and a diet Dr. Brown's Cherry Soda and give 'em a booth in the corner so they can calm down and return to their “peaceful” and “secular” ways. First 50 to visit get $2.00 off their sandwich. It’s worth at least $100 to spare ONE Dane his/her head.
RS
Visit My Deli:
http://randyscornerdeli.blogspot.com/
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Sunday, 19, February, 2006 (20, Muharram, 1427)
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Indian Minister Offers Bounty
Nilofar Suhrawardy, Arab News —
NEW DELHI, 19 February 2006 — A minister in India’s Uttar Pradesh state government has offered a reward of $11.5 million to anyone who would kill any of the cartoonists who drew the images of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Muhammad Yaqoob Qureshi, minister of state for Haj and Minorities Welfare in the Uttar Pradesh government, told a rally in Meerut, 65 km east of New Delhi, after Friday prayers that he would give “the avenger” 510 million rupees ($11.5 million) and his weight in gold.
“Drawing a cartoon of the Prophet is blasphemous and Muslims will not tolerate this insult,” he said in a speech that was broadcast by Indian television stations. “The money will be paid by the people of Meerut,” said Yaqoob.
The cartoons, drawn by 12 artists, were first published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September and later reprinted in a number of other mainly European dailies. They have sparked Muslim protests worldwide.
The minister’s remarks sparked a nationwide furor and demands for his immediate arrest and resignation. When contacted by Indo Asian News Service yesterday, Qureshi repeated his declaration and said: “Muslim women of Uttar Pradesh have decided to give away their jewelry to weigh in gold any one who beheads the cartoonist, while I would collect 510 million rupees and donate it to him.
“Our protest is against none other than the United States which is solely responsible for masterminding a war against the Muslim world,” he said. “The Indian government should sever all diplomatic ties with the United States and recall its ambassador,” Qureshi said by telephone from Meerut.
Qureshi also said he had made these comments as an individual and not as a minister.
The government of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state that has a large Muslim community, said the minister’s statements were “his personal wish” and did not violate government rules.
The state’s Principal Home Secretary Alok Sinha said: “Mere announcement of this kind does not amount to a crime.’”
“Let me clarify that he did not make the announcement in his capacity as a minister.
“Secondly, the reference is being made to something that has happened outside the geographical boundaries of India. Lastly, he was simply expressing the common feeling of members of his community,” Sinha said.
The home secretary also denied that such an announcement could cause sectarian tension.
“I am sure the minister has no intention of inciting communal passions and his statement is not intended to hurt the sentiments of any other community,” Sinha said. “But, of course, I am aware that the issue is a sensitive one. We are taking due precautions to ensure maintenance of law and order.”
In the state capital, Lucknow, most establishments owned by Muslims kept their shutters down as a mark of solidarity with the protesters in Meerut.
But the influential All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, an authoritative national body of Muslim scholars, slammed the announcement as “anti-Islamic and anti-humanity.”
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded immediate arrest and dismissal of Qureshi from the state government. BJP leader N. Venkaiah Naidu said: “He should be dismissed forthwith and arrested. He should also be tried under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.”
Describing Qureshi’s comments as cheap, vote-buying tactics, Naidu said told reporters in Madras that he hoped the Uttar Pradesh government, governor and the federal government would take immediate action against the minister.
On the cartoons, Naidu said: “I can understand sentiments of the community being hurt by such caricatures. The BJP strongly disapproves and condemn such acts.”
In Indian-administered Kashmir, some 1,000 people yesterday protested the publication of the offending drawings and demanded punishment for the cartoonists.
Carrying banners and shouting slogans, the protesters marched through the streets of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, before handing over a memorandum to United Nations officials posted in the state.
“We love our Prophet” and “Down with enemies of Islam” read some of the banners carried by the protesters, who were led by the mayor of Srinagar, Ghulam Mustafa.
The protesters demanded that the governments of the countries where the drawings were published “tender unqualified apologies for such drawings and deal with the editors and publishers with an iron hand,” Mustafa said. “We are peace loving and secular people. Such acts outrage us,” he said, before the protesters peacefully dispersed.
— Additional input from agencies
