Burning the Qur‘an is sacrilegious and shocking act, Kabul priest says
Protests began on Friday with an attack against the United Nations headquarters in Mazar-i-sharif, causing the death of about 30 people. Clashes yesterday in Kandahar left two policemen dead and 30 people hurt. On Saturday in the same city, violence erupted when crowds marched against the UN building. Ten people were killed and more than 80 wounded. On Friday, three UN officials and four Nepali soldiers protecting UN staff were killed in Mazar-i-Sharif. Five Afghan protesters were also killed in the same incident.
The country is in an uproar. Peaceful demonstrations were held yesterday in Kabul, Herat, Jalalabad and elsewhere.
Protests erupted when news came that Rev Wayne Sapp, an Evangelical minister, had publicly burnt a copy of the Qur‘an, in Florida.
Fr Moretti does not mince his words. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said, “It is a shocking and irresponsible act because the Qur‘an is the sacred text of Islam and burning a sacred text, of any religion, is a very serious and sacrilegious deed. It is not act of freedom, because freedom means not offending what is sacred for others. It is instead an act contrary to Christianity, which is a religion that teaches to love everyone, even those who think differently, and certainly does not say anything about offending other religions.”
“Now those who did the deed must assume full moral responsibility for an outcome that was predictable because they knew very well how Muslim believers might react to what is for all intents and purposes a provocation,” something especially appalling at a time when “the Islamic world is in a turmoil.”
“It is obvious that the violence of the demonstrators is as blameworthy as the sacrilegious deed that provoked it, one that Muslim believers see as a direct insult against them. Of course, any attack against others, whether Westerner or Christian, carried out because of the action of a single individual is equally unacceptable. At the start of yesterday’s Mass, I urged everyone to pray for the victims of this affair, Western or Afghan.”
In the meantime, it is maximum alert in Afghanistan.
Sources tell AsiaNews that the wave of protests was inspired by elements close to President Hamid Karzai, who wants to improve his standing among Afghans.
Karzai has publicly condemned the Qur‘an burning, which has led some to criticise him for causing the protests.
Yesterday, Karzai repeated his call for the US administration and the US Senate to “condemn the act in strong words . . . and bring those responsible to justice”.
US President Barack Obama on Saturday condemned the Qur‘an burning as an act of “extreme intolerance and bigotry”.
General David Petraeus, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, deplored the burning as “hateful, extremely disrespectful and enormously intolerant”.
Rev Terry Jones, the US clergyman who last year threatened to burn the Qur‘an, said on Friday that Islam and its followers are responsible for the protest deaths, not the person who burnt the Qur‘an.
In an indirect reply to the pastor’s statement, Staffan de Mistura, the top UN envoy in Afghanistan, said, “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of offending culture, religion or traditions.” For him, “Those who entered our building were actually furiously angry about the issue about the Koran. There was nothing political there."
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