http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=78035&d=19&m=2&y=2006
Sunday, 19, February, 2006 (20, Muharram, 1427)
Indian Minister Offers Bounty
Nilofar Suhrawardy, Arab News
Uttar Pradesh Haj Minister Muhammad Yaqoob Qureshi addresses a
rally in Meerut on Friday. (AFP)
NEW DELHI, 19 February 2006 - A minister in India's Uttar Pradesh state
government has offered a reward of $11.5 million to anyone who would kill any
of the cartoonists who drew the images of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him).
Muhammad Yaqoob Qureshi, minister of state for Haj and Minorities Welfare
in the Uttar Pradesh government, told a rally in Meerut, 65 km east of New
Delhi, after Friday prayers that he would give "the avenger" 510 million rupees
($11.5 million) and his weight in gold.
"Drawing a cartoon of the Prophet is blasphemous and Muslims will not
tolerate this insult," he said in a speech that was broadcast by Indian
television stations. "The money will be paid by the people of Meerut," said
Yaqoob.
The cartoons, drawn by 12 artists, were first published in Danish
newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September and later reprinted in a number of other
mainly European dailies. They have sparked Muslim protests worldwide.
The minister's remarks sparked a nationwide furor and demands for his
immediate arrest and resignation. When contacted by Indo Asian News Service
yesterday, Qureshi repeated his declaration and said: "Muslim women of Uttar
Pradesh have decided to give away their jewelry to weigh in gold any one who
beheads the cartoonist, while I would collect 510 million rupees and donate it
to him.
"Our protest is against none other than the United States which is solely
responsible for masterminding a war against the Muslim world," he said. "The
Indian government should sever all diplomatic ties with the United States and
recall its ambassador," Qureshi said by telephone from Meerut.
Qureshi also said he had made these comments as an individual and not as
a minister.
The government of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state that has a
large Muslim community, said the minister's statements were "his personal wish"
and did not violate government rules.
The state's Principal Home Secretary Alok Sinha said: "Mere announcement
of this kind does not amount to a crime.'"
"Let me clarify that he did not make the announcement in his capacity as
a minister.
"Secondly, the reference is being made to something that has happened
outside the geographical boundaries of India. Lastly, he was simply expressing
the common feeling of members of his community," Sinha said.
The home secretary also denied that such an announcement could cause
sectarian tension.
"I am sure the minister has no intention of inciting communal passions
and his statement is not intended to hurt the sentiments of any other
community," Sinha said. "But, of course, I am aware that the issue is a
sensitive one. We are taking due precautions to ensure maintenance of law and
order."
In the state capital, Lucknow, most establishments owned by Muslims kept
their shutters down as a mark of solidarity with the protesters in Meerut.
But the influential All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, an authoritative
national body of Muslim scholars, slammed the announcement as "anti-Islamic and
anti-humanity."
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded immediate arrest and
dismissal of Qureshi from the state government. BJP leader N. Venkaiah Naidu
said: "He should be dismissed forthwith and arrested. He should also be tried
under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code."
Describing Qureshi's comments as cheap, vote-buying tactics, Naidu said
told reporters in Madras that he hoped the Uttar Pradesh government, governor
and the federal government would take immediate action against the minister.
On the cartoons, Naidu said: "I can understand sentiments of the
community being hurt by such caricatures. The BJP strongly disapproves and
condemn such acts."
In Indian-administered Kashmir, some 1,000 people yesterday protested the
publication of the offending drawings and demanded punishment for the
cartoonists.
Carrying banners and shouting slogans, the protesters marched through the
streets of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, before
handing over a memorandum to United Nations officials posted in the state.
"We love our Prophet" and "Down with enemies of Islam" read some of the
banners carried by the protesters, who were led by the mayor of Srinagar,
Ghulam Mustafa.
The protesters demanded that the governments of the countries where the
drawings were published "tender unqualified apologies for such drawings and
deal with the editors and publishers with an iron hand," Mustafa said. "We are
peace loving and secular people. Such acts outrage us," he said, before the
protesters peacefully dispersed.
- Additional input from agencies
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