More on the great Qur’an toilet flushing riots of 2005 from the Pakistan Tribune, “Qazi terms sacrilege of Holy Quran as desecration of Ummah,” with thanks to ? (Folks, please bear with me. If I’m unsure about the name, I’m leaving it off – please include a note with the name you want used by the link if possible – thanks, Rebecca)
LAHORE – MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that desecration of the Holy Quran is desecration the whole Muslim Ummah.
He said this while addressing Jumma congregation here in Jamia Masjid Mansoora. He held that MMA would voice observe protest day all over the world against the incident of sacrilege of the Holy Quran by US troops.MMA has contacted Islamic movements in all the countries so that a forceful protest could be demonstrated across the world on one day, he told. A mammoth protest rally will be held in Islamabad on that day, he told.
He went on to say that love for the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and respect for the Holy Quran is deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the Muslims. Muslims are an Ummah and the conspiracy is on to dislodge this love from the hearts of the Muslims, he warned.
The incident of flushing the Holy Quran by the US troops before the Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo bay prison facility is evidence of utter degeneration of US mentality, he remarked.
Citing to publication of derogatory cartoon in Washington Times he said that the entire responsibility of this humiliating treatment rests with General Pervez Musharraf who captured our Muslim brethren and handed over them to US, he alleged.
Qazi held that US considered Muslims its potential rival and targeted them after USSR defeat in Afghanistan…
More attempts to rewrite history here. Qazi perpetuates the myth that the mujahideen in Afghanistan actually brought down the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Scott McClellan chimes in with more appeasing language in this update from ABCNews, “Muslims protest over Koran desecration reports,” with thanks to ? (sorry guys.)
Angry protests have raged across the Muslim world from Indonesia to Gaza over a report that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay desecrated the Koran.
In Afghanistan, at least nine people were killed on Friday in protests over the report, bringing the country’s death toll to 16 this week in its worst anti-American demonstrations since the fall of the Taliban.
Washington sought to stem Muslim anger as allies demanded investigations and thousands took to the streets in outrage over the Newsweek magazine report that interrogators at the US military prison in Cuba had put the Muslim holy book on a toilet and flushed it down.
The unrest spread to Pakistan, which called for a US probe.
Hundreds of people held a peaceful protest in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
In Gaza, several thousand Palestinians marched through a refugee camp in a protest organised by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Several hundred Palestinians also marched in the West Bank city of Hebron.
The escalating violence prompted the Bush administration to express sympathy with the demonstrators and urge calm.
“We want Muslims around the world to know that we share and understand the concerns that they have,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
“We will not tolerate any disrespect for the holy Koran,” he added.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also urged Muslims on Thursday to resist calls for violence, saying US military authorities were investigating the Koran allegations and calling disrespect to the holy book “abhorrent to us all”.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God, treating each book with deep reverence, and the episode has embarrassed the United States, which has sought closer ties with Muslim allies as it wages its war on terrorism…