International Breaking News

Though not with the same intensity of emotions, yet protests continue across the Muslim world, including Pakistan, over the anti-Islamic film that was uploaded to YouTube.

Once again, the true face of the so-called champion of human rights, USA/West, has unveiled. Nevertheless, its hostility towards the Muslim world became obvious after the Twin Towers tragedy. Whether it be the occupation and massacre of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the naked aggression of Indian and Israeli forces on innocent Kashmiris and Palestinians, the international community has played the role of a silent spectator, as though the blood of Muslims is cheaper than the blood of others.
Coming back to the topic. Before the release of the sacrilegious film on YouTube, the international media reported that a competition for drawing insolent sketches was in progress on Facebook. Earlier in Holland, Fitna, a short film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, was produced targetting the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to defame Islam and hurt Muslim sentiments.
Likewise, the print media in the West through its continuous publication of degrading sketches hurt the feelings of nearly 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. Demonstrations were staged throughout the Islamic world, including Pakistan, which united the Ummah so that a loud and clear message could be sent to the anti-Islam elements to stop such acts.
Having said that, once again, the Muslims have been hurt! It is important to add that this aggressive or harsh attitude of the Western media against them has been going on for a long time.
The love of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), undoubtedly, is the central point of the Islamic faith. However, the US/West through continuous attacks on him desires to achieve its unholy objectives – i.e. to defame Islam. Such acts are referred to as “freedom of expression”. But they are not! Hurting the sentiments of people belonging to other faiths does not surely fall under the definition of “freedom of expression”.
In fact, all this seems to be a Jewish conspiracy to harm the Muslims and overtime acquire their power vis-a-vis wealth; this will, indeed, threaten world peace. The Obama administration should punish the filmmaker to stop such happenings in future. More so, the US should apologise to the Muslims for it.
Islam gives a message to serve humanity and show tolerance and reverence for other religions. Therefore, it is essential for the people of the West to respect Islam. So, the sequence of inflaming the sentiments of the Ummah, through disgraceful documentaries and sketches in the Western print and electronic media, as well as the social media, must be stopped immediately.
All Muslim countries and hugh-profile organisations, like the OIC, must take notice of the ever-increasing biases in the West and its media against Islam.
In addition, the Islamic countries should establish think tanks that have the capability to interact with the Western world. For this, the universities and seats of lerning in Muslims states need produce a breed of highly qualified and knowledgable people.
Further, the media in the Muslim countries should be used to counter the Western propaganda and to publicise the true message of Islam before the international community. This can, however, take place only if we further establish television channels and production houses and produce and air programmes about Islam. Keeping this view, the best example is Peace TV. The programmes aired by it are highly popular among the masses in the Muslim world, including Pakistan.
The writer is secretary information of Jamaat-i-Islami, Punjab. Email: global_media07@yahoo.com