Anti-Islam Film: Peaceful protest is the correct response
Akhtar Jamil
Many people are criticizing the Pakistani Muslims in the social media for not protesting as vehemently as the Muslims living in other countries, in response to the blasphemous anti-Islam film that has once again ignited the flames of hatred and widened the gap between Muslim and Non-Muslims.
There are many reasons why people and political leaders of the so-called “Islamic Republic of Pakistan” do not utter much against the blasphemous movie.
Firstly, since the movie has been made in the United States, our political leaders would not do much because for them America’ blessings and bounties are more important than anything else.
Secondly, being residents of a poor and inflation hit country, everyone in Pakistan is concerned about survival, more than anything else.
Thirdly, there is an ambiance of uncertainty in our country, so no one really knows what is going to happen in the next minute. The law and order situation has been highly volatile and people generally avoid going to protest rallies where larger numbers of people are involved.
Personally, I pay tribute to the Muslims living in other countries who are taking part in protests against the movie. However, I don’t think they are doing it the right way. Destroying properties, killing people and disturbing daily life activities for the masses is not going to yield much. Besides, Islam does not allow anyone to act violently, rather it urges to use wisdom and compassion for finding solutions to discords.
We should protest, if we want to, but in a peaceful and more effective way. The objective of our protests should be to tell the world that we are deeply hurt and offended by the fallacious propaganda against our faith and our holy prophet. Only this way can we be able to win moral support from the world.
This was a clear and insightful message from this writer. Many people in America are very disturbed by this film as well where a few people in our country had the power to incite hate through out the world. These are people who hate America! They are people who do not have respect for any religion, nor our country, and they want to encourage more division and more hatred in the world. These are not true Americans.. They are as damaging as the Taliban extremist who were able to change the world in a few minutes. Whether it is Muhammed, Christ, the Hindu Gods or the Buddha, whose characters are offended by these evil people, we should all be reminded that our prophets would not want killing nor hate in this world. They would not give power to these people who cause malice. We can not control what others do, we can only show by example that there is love and respect in our own hearts. We cannot allow evil to control our own actions. God blesses the people of Islam as he does Christians, Jews & other religions. It is one God who allows us many different avenues to reach Him and peace. We must continue to do the right thing even though we feel sadness or anger. I feel much anger for these malicious people who created this film. May God bless us all at this time to give us the strength we need to be good citizens of this world.