Editorial

Hate speech has raised its ugly head again but with incomparable fallout. The low-budget, amateurishly-made film – Innocence of Muslims – re-ignited the flames of Islamophobia by mocking the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Within days, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published blasphemous cartoons of the holiest figure for the Muslims.

Share this page

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.

Share this page

Tunisia’s historic first free and fair general elections, achieving a turnout rate many did not expect at all, are being regarded as exemplary by the international observers.

While the top three winning parties have accepted the results, vocal residents of Sidi Bouzaid have expressed anger the at the election authorities. The town is difficult to ignore as it is none other than the birthplace of the uprising that ousted Zine el Abidine Ben Ali from power in January.

Share this page

Tunisia’s historic first free and fair general elections, achieving a turnout rate many did not expect at all, are being regarded as exemplary by the international observers.

While the top three winning parties have accepted the results, vocal residents of Sidi Bouzaid have expressed anger the at the election authorities. The town is difficult to ignore as it is none other than the birthplace of the uprising that ousted Zine el Abidine Ben Ali from power in January.

Share this page

When the country’s heart favorite presidential candidate, Strauss-Kahn, quit the race after a high profile scandal in a New York hotel, the battle for coveted slot brings new surprises to the fore.

Now Muslim women, clad in dark-colored head-to-toe burqa, are campaigning for the presidency. Posters of Ms Kenza Drider are already attracting attention, months before the usual campaign time. By wearing the veil, she is breaking a French law imposed since April, liable to punishment and fines both.

Share this page

Times have changed and the status quo is fragmenting. Turkish-inspired flotilla was the first spell of breeze for starving and caged people of Palestine. Israel was quick to send commandos and kill eight unarmed Turks and one American citizen. One year down the road, the aggressor preferred not to apologize, even at the cost of its relations with the leading friend from the Muslim world.

Share this page

“Things got out of hand & we’d had a few drinks. We smashed the place up and Boris set fire to the toilets,” today’s British Premier David Cameron told a gathering at Oxford in 1986.

During the recent rioting in London, the same man said, “The looting and arson last night were criminality, pure and simple. Justice will be done and the people will see the consequences for their crimes.”

Share this page

Over 29,000 children have died of hunger in Somalia, a neighboring country of oil-rich Gulf region and a former colony of Italy, which sleeps over humanitarian situation here but was swift to attack Gaddafi’s military bases in Libya.The worst famine in six decades has spread to five regions in the Horn of Africa with little hope over the next four to six weeks. The United Nations describes a situation as famine when at least 20 per cent of households face food shortages so severe that they are unable to cope with it.

Share this page

Anders Behring Breivik is an answer to the racism question being posed to Europe for over decades. Rarely do the western media term him a terrorist who pronounced clear-cut agenda backed by meticulously crafted ideological doctrine. Conflicting reports from the Norway’s crime scene dispute the term ‘lone wolf’ as he might have been aided by one or two other terrorists. The perpetrator has no qualms about his gruesome act and demands a peculiar kind of uniform to wear during court hearings.

Share this page

A decade after 9/11, Norway made headlines for unlikely reasons. Twin terror acts in premier’s summer office claiming nearly 100 lives, scores missing and dozens hospitalized. Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator, has created a new profile of terrorist for security agencies worldwide: blonde, European and Christian. The previous and widely stereotyped profile of terrorist defined him as bearded, black or wheatish and Muslim.

Share this page