Quran burning

On Feb 20, Afghan soldiers burnt their fingers while trying to retrieve the copies of Holy Quran in Kabul’s Parwan Detention Center. Four texts of Islam’s holy book were reportedly damaged while some could be salvaged in time. Soon after the news spread, outrage united the predominantly Muslim but generally bitterly divided Afghan people. Delay in damage control measures at the NATO as well as Afghan government levels led to escalation of protests into violent expression of revenge, leaving behind bodies of 30 Afghans and six US military personnel in days. Fury was shared by common Afghans as well as the Taliban militia.

An Associate Press story, quoting internal documents, blamed ‘avoidable mistakes’ leading to the explosive happening. The same wire service quotes sources in joint investigation team suggesting that the officials did not intentionally desecrate the Holy Quran. Whatever the final report may reveal about the motivation behind the troops gross anger, the incident does not help the advocates of peaceful co-existence in the West and Muslim world.

Afghan leader Hamid Karazi’s calls for peace and US President Barack Obama’s apology were seen too little too late as the actions of a few soldiers under NATO sent Muslims widespread message of hate for Islam, sparking protests from Indonesia to the Middle East.

While the world media covered the story in headlines, United States mainstream media and televisions shows remained clueless or deliberately dumb. One decade after the 9/11 incidents, international news are still only being seen with the prism of ‘national interests’.

For its own reasons of ‘objectivity’, The News York Times initially managed to ignore the burning of Quran story out-rightly. While the republication presidential hopefuls attacked Obama’s apology, Rick Santorum wanted the Afghans government to apologize for the deaths of US soldiers instead. To him burning Islam’s holy book was a mistake but the killings of US soldiers were intentional and revengeful. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich termed Obama's apology a ‘surrender’

Though carried away with saber-rattling over Iran, the largely Christian political elite in the US forgot to remember that all Abrahamic religions treat religious texts as living beings. Besides, the very timing of the tragedy could not have been any worse given the US efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban ahead of the promised 2014 pullout.

Going by the most sympathetic and softer stance about the burning incident that blames avoidable mistakes and not intentional blunders led to desecration of Quran, the NATO soldiers seem devoid basic of sensitization to cultural and religious aspirations of the Afghan people.

On the other hand, there can be difference of opinion about the way Muslims in Afghanistan reacted to the news, the unanimous view remains that Islam forbids revengeful killings as happened in the war-torn country.