Hall of Fame Member
Posts: 10,495 
Location: The Evil Empire
Location: The Evil Empire
February 14th, 2006, 07:34 AM
KFC, other buildings torched in Pakistan riots
Country sees its worst violence so far over prophet caricatures
LAHORE, Pakistan - Thousands of protesters rampaged through two Pakistani cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and setting fire to Western businesses and a provincial assembly building in the country’s worst wave of violence against the Prophet Mohammad cartoons, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured.
Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company.
On Monday, police fired tear gas and wielded batons to stop about 7,000 students from marching on the governor’s residence in northwestern Pakistan.
The students had marched to several universities in Peshawar and hurled stones at a Christian school, breaking windows and causing other damage. They also threw stones at shops in the main business district, chanting “Down with America” and “Down with Denmark.”
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf told journalists Monday that newspapers that have printed the caricatures were “being totally oblivious to the consequences for the world, for world peace and harmony.”
“The most moderate Muslim will go to the street and talk against it because this hurts the sentiments of every Muslim,” he said. “Whether an extremist or a moderate or an ultramoderate, we will condemn it.”
Several large rallies have been held across Pakistan against the cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper in September.
Worldwide protests
The cartoons have been reprinted in numerous publications in Europe and elsewhere in what publishers say is a show of solidarity for freedom of expression, setting off protests from Canada to Indonesia. Some demonstrations have been violent, and the tension has noticeably increased anti-Western dialogue in the Muslim world.
In the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinian children stomped on a Danish flag and shouted anti-Danish slogans Monday to protest the caricatures. The demonstration in Hebron was organized by a school affiliated with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which is poised to lead the next Palestinian government.
Palestinians have held mass protests against the drawings in recent weeks, threatened to kidnap Europeans in Gaza and chased foreign observers out of Hebron.
One of Iran’s largest newspapers opened a contest Monday seeking caricatures of the Holocaust. Hamshahri newspaper said it wanted to test whether the West extends its principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the cartoons of Islam’s prophet.
“We don’t intend retaliation over the drawings of the prophet. We just want to show that freedom is restricted in the West,” said Davood Kazemi, executive manager of the contest and cartoon editor at the paper.
The Iranian government on Sunday rejected an accusation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it has fanned violent protests over the caricatures and demanded an apology, saying that could reduce growing tension.
Rice, meanwhile, said Iran and Syria should be urging their citizens to remain calm — not encouraging violence like the attacks on Western diplomatic missions in Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
Nearly a dozen people were killed in protests in Afghanistan.
“If people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control,” she said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Countries exploit tensions
The drawings — including one that depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb — have offended many Muslims. Islamic tradition widely holds that representations of the prophet are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
But some suggest the genuine anger displayed by crowds across the Muslim world has been exploited or intensified by some Muslim countries to settle scores with Western powers.
Rice said Wednesday that “Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said an apology from Rice and Denmark could help. “What happened was a natural reaction,” Asefi said, adding that “an apology could alleviate the tension.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the drawings as “insensitive and rather offensive,” but he called for dialogue.
“Right now there’s megaphone diplomacy,” Annan told Denmark’s national broadcaster DR. “And I think we should turn off the megaphones and begin to talk quietly to each other.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11341523/
KFC, other buildings torched in Pakistan riots
Country sees its worst violence so far over prophet caricatures
LAHORE, Pakistan - Thousands of protesters rampaged through two Pakistani cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and setting fire to Western businesses and a provincial assembly building in the country’s worst wave of violence against the Prophet Mohammad cartoons, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured.
Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company.
On Monday, police fired tear gas and wielded batons to stop about 7,000 students from marching on the governor’s residence in northwestern Pakistan.
The students had marched to several universities in Peshawar and hurled stones at a Christian school, breaking windows and causing other damage. They also threw stones at shops in the main business district, chanting “Down with America” and “Down with Denmark.”
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf told journalists Monday that newspapers that have printed the caricatures were “being totally oblivious to the consequences for the world, for world peace and harmony.”
“The most moderate Muslim will go to the street and talk against it because this hurts the sentiments of every Muslim,” he said. “Whether an extremist or a moderate or an ultramoderate, we will condemn it.”
Several large rallies have been held across Pakistan against the cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper in September.
Worldwide protests
The cartoons have been reprinted in numerous publications in Europe and elsewhere in what publishers say is a show of solidarity for freedom of expression, setting off protests from Canada to Indonesia. Some demonstrations have been violent, and the tension has noticeably increased anti-Western dialogue in the Muslim world.
In the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinian children stomped on a Danish flag and shouted anti-Danish slogans Monday to protest the caricatures. The demonstration in Hebron was organized by a school affiliated with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which is poised to lead the next Palestinian government.
Palestinians have held mass protests against the drawings in recent weeks, threatened to kidnap Europeans in Gaza and chased foreign observers out of Hebron.
One of Iran’s largest newspapers opened a contest Monday seeking caricatures of the Holocaust. Hamshahri newspaper said it wanted to test whether the West extends its principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the cartoons of Islam’s prophet.
“We don’t intend retaliation over the drawings of the prophet. We just want to show that freedom is restricted in the West,” said Davood Kazemi, executive manager of the contest and cartoon editor at the paper.
The Iranian government on Sunday rejected an accusation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it has fanned violent protests over the caricatures and demanded an apology, saying that could reduce growing tension.
Rice, meanwhile, said Iran and Syria should be urging their citizens to remain calm — not encouraging violence like the attacks on Western diplomatic missions in Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
Nearly a dozen people were killed in protests in Afghanistan.
“If people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control,” she said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
Countries exploit tensions
The drawings — including one that depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb — have offended many Muslims. Islamic tradition widely holds that representations of the prophet are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
But some suggest the genuine anger displayed by crowds across the Muslim world has been exploited or intensified by some Muslim countries to settle scores with Western powers.
Rice said Wednesday that “Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said an apology from Rice and Denmark could help. “What happened was a natural reaction,” Asefi said, adding that “an apology could alleviate the tension.”
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the drawings as “insensitive and rather offensive,” but he called for dialogue.
“Right now there’s megaphone diplomacy,” Annan told Denmark’s national broadcaster DR. “And I think we should turn off the megaphones and begin to talk quietly to each other.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11341523/
Clever Clogs
Posts: 730
February 14th, 2006, 08:05 AM
I see the western world's view of itself being the superior social order of things now playing with fire with a third of the worlds population that holds a religious belief founded on high honour and faith.
People who are prepared to die for their faith should not have their faith poked at with a stick.
Although the rest of the world has abandoned their faiths or compromised them beyond recognition, they should be carefull to remember that respect for others can be extended as a courtesy or taken by force; the latter not being a good thing for anyone.
Why do we not simply respect their beliefs. It costs nothing but then there will be less to talk about without some violent activity for the news people to report on and raise their ratings with.
I see the western world's view of itself being the superior social order of things now playing with fire with a third of the worlds population that holds a religious belief founded on high honour and faith.
People who are prepared to die for their faith should not have their faith poked at with a stick.
Although the rest of the world has abandoned their faiths or compromised them beyond recognition, they should be carefull to remember that respect for others can be extended as a courtesy or taken by force; the latter not being a good thing for anyone.
Why do we not simply respect their beliefs. It costs nothing but then there will be less to talk about without some violent activity for the news people to report on and raise their ratings with.
Hall of Fame Member
Posts: 10,495
Location: The Evil Empire
Location: The Evil Empire
February 14th, 2006, 08:26 AM
Quoting
I suppose then I should stop eating beef because it is sacred in the Hindu religion. With all due respect, provoking a religion would be to publish cartoons in their countries, what we do in ours is our business.
Why do we not simply respect their beliefs. It costs nothing but then there will be less to talk about without some violent activity for the news people to report on and raise their ratings with.
Steven Hawking's Tutor
Posts: 4,838
Location: Independent Palestine
Location: Independent Palestine
February 14th, 2006, 08:32 AM
Quote:
Actually you know, with all the mad cow and avian flu going around, I have actually been thinking of going to fish and shrimp and stuff like that.
Then put your actions where your mouth is and stop eating beef.
Hall of Fame Member
Posts: 10,495
Location: The Evil Empire
Location: The Evil Empire
February 14th, 2006, 08:39 AM
The point I am trying to make, there are so many religions all over the world to try and respect all of them would virtually put us back in caves grinding sticks together to make fire. Where is the line drawn?
You can't draw lines with free speech, until that speech becomes an act at which point our laws kick in.
Quoting
And that's fine Jersay.Quote:
Actually you know, with all the mad cow and avian flu going around, I have actually been thinking of going to fish and shrimp and stuff like that.
Then put your actions where your mouth is and stop eating beef.
The point I am trying to make, there are so many religions all over the world to try and respect all of them would virtually put us back in caves grinding sticks together to make fire. Where is the line drawn?
You can't draw lines with free speech, until that speech becomes an act at which point our laws kick in.
Steven Hawking's Tutor
Posts: 4,838
Location: Independent Palestine
Location: Independent Palestine
February 14th, 2006, 08:43 AM
So I don't know if the cartoons would be criminal, probably the one with the turban as a bomb, but racist and hate propoganda that proceeds this would be a crime.
And I would suspect also if the Holocaust cartoons, if they were extremely bad would be a crime as well if they were displayed in Canada.
Quote:
And it appears that in Canada, like anti-semitism, and other crimes that spread hate the Canadian government will make it a crime to be a Islamophobe.
And that's fine Jersay.
The point I am trying to make, there are so many religions all over the world to try and respect all of them would virtually put us back in caves grinding sticks together to make fire. Where is the line drawn?
You can't draw lines with free speech, until that speech becomes an act at which point our laws kick in.
The point I am trying to make, there are so many religions all over the world to try and respect all of them would virtually put us back in caves grinding sticks together to make fire. Where is the line drawn?
You can't draw lines with free speech, until that speech becomes an act at which point our laws kick in.
So I don't know if the cartoons would be criminal, probably the one with the turban as a bomb, but racist and hate propoganda that proceeds this would be a crime.
And I would suspect also if the Holocaust cartoons, if they were extremely bad would be a crime as well if they were displayed in Canada.
Steven Hawking's Tutor
Posts: 4,838
Location: Independent Palestine
Location: Independent Palestine
February 14th, 2006, 08:48 AM
Quote:
I am sorry ITN, but if you by another steak or some form of meat that comes from a cow is now illegal. Report to your local jail.
Yeah, keep making laws restricting free speech, while your at it, ban cows.
House Member
Posts: 2,761
Location: California
Location: California
February 14th, 2006, 09:01 AM
I know the food there isn't good, but this seems like an overreaction to me... They could have just gone to another restaurant.
OK, seriously, I've stopped caring about how a bunch of people react to a cartoon. If they want to wreck their own country because they are mad that someone in Denmark drew a picture, then they are idiots. Maybe they could focus on the real affronts to Islam, like men who turn women into slaves (the revered prophet NEVER treated women like that), bomb innocent people in the name of Jihad, etc.
I know the food there isn't good, but this seems like an overreaction to me... They could have just gone to another restaurant.
OK, seriously, I've stopped caring about how a bunch of people react to a cartoon. If they want to wreck their own country because they are mad that someone in Denmark drew a picture, then they are idiots. Maybe they could focus on the real affronts to Islam, like men who turn women into slaves (the revered prophet NEVER treated women like that), bomb innocent people in the name of Jihad, etc.
Bright Spark
Posts: 315
February 14th, 2006, 09:03 AM
Sorry Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Manji, but religious fanatics don't like your books, and as you know they are willing to kill and die over it, so we will be banning your books....
This is this society you propose? Fanatics willing to kill and die for a cause will dictate our policies.
Uh, let me think about that.... No frakking way!
We have spent hundreds of years getting beyond fanaticism, I don't think most of us will now abdicate reason to cater to fanatics.
I know I won't.
Quoting
So our society should base its rules on how fanatical someone is?
People who are prepared to die for their faith should not have their faith poked at with a stick.
Sorry Mr. Rushdie and Ms. Manji, but religious fanatics don't like your books, and as you know they are willing to kill and die over it, so we will be banning your books....
This is this society you propose? Fanatics willing to kill and die for a cause will dictate our policies.
Uh, let me think about that.... No frakking way!
We have spent hundreds of years getting beyond fanaticism, I don't think most of us will now abdicate reason to cater to fanatics.
I know I won't.
Hall of Fame Member
Posts: 10,495
Location: The Evil Empire
Location: The Evil Empire
February 14th, 2006, 09:08 AM
Quoting
The Prophet married Aisha when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, at which point he allegedly had sex with her at that age. I know times were different back then, but sheesh, that's a tad young don't you think?
like men who turn women into slaves (the revered prophet NEVER treated women like that)
