.IPT.Why Are American Muslim Groups So Quiet About the Assassination of Pakistani Governor?

HT:BigPeace.IPT.Why Are American Muslim Groups So Quiet About the Assassination of Pakistani Governor?American-Muslim groups were swift to issue statements condemning New Year’s Eve bombing attacks at a Nigerian army barracks and at a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt. But those same groups have been silent since Tuesday’s assassination of a moderate Pakistani governor over a religious dispute as Islamists rejoice and hail the killer as a hero.JeI leader Munawar Hasan blamed the victim, saying “Salman Taseer was himself responsible for his killing. Any Muslim worth the name could not tolerate blasphemy of the Prophet, as had been proved by this incident.
”Sindh Asadhullah Bhutto, head of a JeI branch, told a news conference that Qadri “is a pious man and will go directly to heaven.”Bhutto then said that Aasia Bibi, the Catholic woman Taseer defended who is facing execution for alleged blasphemy “will suffer the same fate if the punishment awarded to her by the court for using derogatory remarks against Hazrat Mohammed Mustafa (PBUH) is not implemented.”American Muslim groups which advocate interfaith dialogue can benefit from taking a stand for Taseer and Bibi.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called the New Year’s Eve bombings “cowardly” attacks meant “to harm long-term relations between Muslims and Christians.” But its officials have endorsed blasphemy laws as recently as 2006.During a news conference in the wake of the riots protesting the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, then-CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmed said Muslim outrage about the cartoons was justified, but that “Violence is not justified. Peaceful protest is justified. Harmful, destructive behavior of properties is not justified.”Still, he indicated that expanding hate-crime laws to cover speech might not be enough. Policy makers should “even contemplate about passing blasphemy laws,” he said, citing icons including the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad which have been ridiculed. “So governments, legislatures, international bodies … must contemplate about what are the ways in which an anti-blasphemy law can be passed that can protect the right to exercise freedom of religion.”CAIR officials declined an invitation to appear on the “O’Reilly Factor” last month to discuss the Bibi case.Those officials normally do not hesitate to weigh in on foreign affairs when it suits them, condemning burka bans in France and Tunisia, and issuing almost daily statements Israel’s 2009-10 fight against Hamas in Gaza. But the pattern of selective outrage is well-established. The 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh after he produced a short film, “Submission,” which was critical of Islam’s treatment of women, drew no condemnation. The same goes for threats that have followed Van Gogh’s partner in that project, Aayan Hirsi Ali.When CAIR national spokesman Ibrahim Hooper mentions Hirsi Ali, it is to dismiss her, saying “her message is one of bigotry, not one of mutual understanding” and calling her ‘just one more Muslim-basher on the lecture circuit.”The Muslim Public Affairs Council, which has stood up for free speech, hasn’t issued any statement on Taseer’s killing or what it means for Pakistan’s future. The same goes for the Islamic Society of North America.A looming “descent into chaos” in Pakistan will only make the challenge in the fight against terror greater. A few press releases aren’t going to change that. But a united front among Muslim communities around the world that – while they may be offended by things written or said about their faith – killing the offenders is worse. That would be an important statement for tolerance and modernity.Hmmmm.....He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. Martin Luther King, Jr."Read the full story here.