Indian Shia Religious Scholar Pitches For Stringent Int’l Law Against Blasphemy

New Delhi, Sept 29, IRNA – Strongly denouncing the anti-Islam US film, India’s renowned Shia religious scholar Saturday pitched for the stringent international law to curb the blasphemous activities. Talking to IRNA, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawwad Naqvi, General Secretary Majlis Ulema-e-Hind said, “This is not the first time that these criminal minded people in the name of freedom of expression and with the encouragement of the US and Israel, had committed the heinous crime. From the film titled ‘Fitna’ till this film, they have provoked and humiliated the world Muslims”. He said the masters of those involved in blasphemy novel, cartoon or movie, cannot shelve the responsibility of hurting sentiments of world Muslims by describing that as a freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of speech doesn’t permit insulting the religion, he added. Jawwad further said that the US, its allies and Israel first provoke Muslims through such blasphemous activities and when the community protests, they brand them as terrorists. He reiterated that all people around the globe should pay due respect to the faiths of other people and should not be allowed to hurt the religious sentiments of other communities”. “The UN is duty-bound to enact a stringent law to prevent an individual, a group of people or a nation from indulging in any activity which hurts the religious sentiments of followers of any religion in the world," Jawwad underlined. Terming the film “malicious and deliberately provocative”, he emphasized that it is the people’s right to protest strongly, asking for a peaceful protest to defeat the evil designs of the enemies of Islam./end