The report of alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by American military interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay prison have added fuel to the fire of anti-Americanism that has remained ablaze in parts of Afghanistan. For the third consecutive day on Thursday, violent anti-American protests, which began in Jalalabad with the burning of offices of various international aid agencies and also the Pakistan Consulate, have spread to at least ten other provinces of the country as well as the capital Kabul. So far, security forces' attempts to quell the unrest have led to the death of seven people and injuries to 76. Afghanistan, despite the elections and Kabul/Washington claims of normalcy having returned, is still in a state of war.
For those fighting on the side of the erstwhile Taleban, the Guantanamo report has not only hurt their religious sentiments, but also lends itself to the confirmation of their stance that America is anti-Muslim. And needless to say, it has equally offended Muslims in other parts of the world, including Pakistan. Fortunately, however, the issue here has been dealt with in a civilised manner. While the National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to condemn the incident, the government has directed its Ambassador in Washington to take up the matter with the State Department.
The outrage has come at a time anti-American sentiments are already on the increase all over the world in general and Muslim countries in particular after the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. People have not forgotten yet the humiliation and torture the American soldiers wreaked on Iraqi prisoners at the infamous Abu Ghuraib prison.
Also, it makes a mockery of the self-assigned US role as a promoter of respect for all religions. Incidentally, a US Congress mandated Commission on International Religious Freedom has just recently presented its report to the State Department, advising it to blacklist Pakistan as well as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for their alleged violation of religious freedom and beliefs. In the wake of protests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Washington has moved to do damage control.
The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, disclosed in Washington on Thursday that the commander of the US Southern Command, General Bantz Craddock, had been at Guantanamo for the past two days "digging into this issue to see if there was a time when the Quran was not respected." But signs are that this investigation, like most other recent investigations into US military's brazen misconduct, is not an honest effort to uncover the truth and punish the interrogators who are accused of having stuffed a copy of the Holy Quran in the toilet to 'rattle' the Muslim prisoners.
Meyers said that an inspection of the interrogation logs has not shown that there was ever the case of the toilet incident, but went on to mention "a log entry that they still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of the Quran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest." Considering that those incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay prison were all religious zealots, it is highly unlikely that any of them could have desecrated the Holy Book to spite the American guards.
Instead of making such an unconvincing attempt to exonerate his own soldiers of a grave crime against the beliefs of imprisoned men, the American general should to try and establish the truth, punish the culprits and, like honourable men, say sorry.
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