Muslims and the West

However, the ambassadors did forward a protest to the Danish PM on 20 October 2005, but the PM or the govt kept their eyes closed to it. Then came the pan European freedom that prompted newspapers in Norway, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain to republish the cartoons defying the Muslim protests and loss of lives in February. And in an act of "overt provocation" as stated by President Jacques Chirac, the French magazine Charlie Hebdo published the Danish cartoons along with other caricatures on 8 February 2006.

Lately, in response to the opposition's demand of an independent investigation of his government's handling of the crisis over cartoons, the Danish Prime Minister has said, "Nai!"

Well, our forefathers and we have been denied freedom for centuries (especially by the British rule) and thus we may not be capable of recognising the glory of freedom (unlimited)! But, how can we understand or judge the European freedom credentials while just a few days ago, the 67-year old famous British historian David Irving has been found guilty in Vienna of denying the Holocaust of European Jewry (in WWII) in a speech in Vienna way back in 1989 and has been sentenced to three years in prison despite his acknowledgement of error in the court saying that the Nazis did murder millions of Jews and that he had made a mistake when he said that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz (Poland)?

My childish question is, if a dozen countries (in Europe and Israel) can have laws against Holocaust denial, why can't laws against publishing cartoons or caricature of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and other similar ones like disrespect to the Holy Quran cannot be enacted?

And the current firestorm on Capitol Hill in the US that may sink the deal (effective from March 2) of a United Arab Emirates company to manage six US seaports reminds me of the immoderate discrimination that is taking place against the Muslims in the unipolar world. One must be bewildering how a UAE company can go as far as making a deal of running six US seaports! The fact is the state-owned Dubai Ports World has purchased Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation which currently runs those ports. If the lawmakers from both Parties, teaming up against the deal, give us an eyewash referring to security reasons if ports are operated by foreign companies; may we use our vision to ask why P&O, a British-based company, for several years has run commercial operations at the ports in New York and New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Miami, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana?

Indeed many things are visible like the sun if our eyes are open.