Editorial

Reprinting of the sacrilegious cartoons against Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, by seven Danish dailies has not enraged the radical fringe among the Muslims alone. The sense of outrage is equally strong among the moderates who believe in mutual respect, healthy exchanges and dialogue between civilizations. It will be sad if the reactions against the cartoons are dismissed as a case of radical Islam trying to suppress the free speech. Nor has Europe always held its freedom of expression sacrosanct enough to withstand blasphemy. Cartoonist Kurt Westergaard’s attempt at caricaturisation of the Islam’s holiest personality is outrageous, to say the least.
Insult hurts the insulted and there cannot be a right to insult without a corresponding right to express outrage. Those who feel the Danish cartoons should be allowed to be reproduced freely do a disservice to the cause of peace and understanding.
Maligning the religious figures-all of whom-come from the Orient, carries a premium in the West. More so when the writer or cartoonist is ‘bold’ enough to peddle self-hate. It offers advantage. One can always hide behind the thin veneer of fiction and literary freedom. It even spares them the risk of summoning of courage required of a reformer. Royalties are assured in any case.
Even the liberal West holds certain shibboleths beyond rational debate. Some things do matter; and principles cannot be weighed in the scale of pragmatism or diplomacy. It is not for nothing that David Irving, the denier of Holocaust, is languishing in the Austrian jail. Succumbing to humiliating pressure from the Zionists, Germany had to legislate against underestimation of the holocaust, written with a capital ‘h’ in the West as a rule.
The right to censure religion is not in question, for it has been routinely exercised. The issue is whether or not any civilized society should tolerate, let alone encourage writers to mock, insult and unleash invectives at the convictions and revered figures of the followers of a faith. The question is : Should the secular clergy have the right to canonize freedom of speech as an absolute value that overrides all other relevant considerations.
There are limits to freedom of expression even in liberal democracies; and there ought to be. Even in the International charter of PEN, the concluding paragraph reads: And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehoods and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.
Civilisation is not solely defined by liberty, but by the way liberties are limited by responsibilities, duties, compassion and, when these prove inadequate, the law. The jungle is free - civilisation is not. Those who want the freedom of the jungle must also accept the retribution of the jungle without a demur of protest.

A demonisation campaign against Muslims is on in Karnataka. Though a swallow does not make a summer, the Police has been sniffing organised terror networks behind individuals found suspected of indulging in terrorism. Institutions of long standing repute have been raided and scores of youth have been picked up and detained without filing of FIRs. Hyperactivity of the regional media in exaggerating the crimes of some misguided youth is also worth taking note. Facts are being manufactured out of fiction at ease and with impunity. Even reputed dailies like The Times of India found no qualms in publishing a defamatory piece against a highly respected IT professional from the Muslim community. To boot, it did not bother to publish an apology or retraction when the person addressed a press conference at the Bangalore Press Club. Sense of pain was not so much when vernacular dailies with low credibility were publishing daily diet of their canards with least respect for hallowed canons of journalism. Their saffron agenda has been clear from day one. Calumnies have filled their columns for eons. But one least expected the traditionally objective media to succumb to the dictates of moneybags that have begun to beg for a piece of soft corner with the saffron forces before elections. Curiously, the media has been propagating the myth of RDX being found in Hubli, despite the State Police’s disclaimer to this effect. Similarly, the arrests have been attributed to time and place to which they bore no connection. And the media has been brazen enough to show the mosque where the suspect lived, while it had no association with the event. Clearly, the media is out to steer the pitch for the saffron forces who have nothing to offer by way of positive agenda before the electorate.