Religious Intolerance In The West

Religious Intolerance in the West A week ago on the Glory TV (a Christian channel here in Britain) a member of Pakistani parliament Fouzia Wahab, was asked by the presenter, why Christians are not allowed to hold key posts in Pakistan. She responded to this question by saying, ‘Pakistan was created for Muslims’ contrary to her own claim which she made earlier in the same program that every one in Pakistan has equal rights regardless of his/her creed, colour and religious background. I think she rightly pointed out that Pakistan was created for Muslims. Pakistan is the first state in modern history which was created on the basis of religious ideology and the consequences of such a decision are not hidden from the world. In my personal opinion, the creation of Pakistan, to the majority community, was a free licence for discrimination against all those who do not share their faith. Religious discrimination however is not confined to Pakistan but many countries in developing and Arab world. When people from these countries, especially those who belong to majority communities, come to the West they bring this attitude with them. Because many of them are not used to hear the different opinion than their own, they behave in a similar way here in the West as they behave in their respective countries. A classic example of this comes from a recent incident took place in Scotland. One of the presenters tells his story. “I have been presenting a weekly (every Saturday 9-10 am) Christian faith based programme for about six years on the local radio (Awaz FM 107.2 _www.awazfm.co.uk_) in Glasgow. A Muslim prolific speaker called Zakir Naik (President Islamic Research Foundation) constantly preaches to belittle the Christian faith on Peace TV (sky digital 820, Muslim TV). Asian Christians, who are listening to our programme on the worldwide web, asked us to respond to his preaching against the Christian faith. They are often asked questions about their faith by Muslims who have been listening to Zakir Naik's programme. A couple of weeks ago he said that not only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life but every prophet was in his time the way and the truth and the life. Ashraf (names are changed for security reasons), the co-presenter of our Christian programme asked me and Asif Mall (a Christian apologist), who was brought online, for clarification. The Christian apologist said Zakir Naik shouldn't say that because this shows a lack of knowledge of the Bible and of the Qur'an. No one has ever claimed to be the way, the truth and the life but Jesus Christ. The Prophet Islam himself asked for the right path in the very first Sura (chapter) of the Qur'an. How can he be 'the truth and the life' when he is asked to repent from his sins at least five times and didn't know of his own destiny? To all these things the references were quoted from the Qur'an. However, some Muslims took offence (we are told) and created a storm. We asked them to come on air to give their perspective if they thought the Christian apologist was wrong. We invited people from the local mosque through the radio management to come and have a live dialogue on air. None of these options were accepted. Instead some local Muslims including some people from the Central Mosque in Glasgow; made a complaint to the radio management (not in writing we were told). We were called in to have a meeting with the radio management. In that meeting we were forced to offer an apology in order to resolve the matter. We agreed to offer an apology not for what Christian apologist said (we don't believe he said anything wrong) but for any offence caused. One of the radio managers typed out an apology which was offered both verbally and in writing. Again our attempt to solve the problem peacefully was not accepted as sufficient. Javed Sittar, one of the managers wanted me to go with him to the mosque and discuss the matter with them and perhaps offer another apology. I refused because I think that we have apologised enough. I said I am willing to talk about everything again in the radio office at a time convenient for all of us. On Tuesday the 4th of August, one of the managers, Javed Ullah, phoned and accused my co-presenter Ashraf of reading the apology incorrectly. When Asharaf reminded him that the apology had been

written by Javed Sittar (Project Director) and had been signed after it was read out then Javed Ullah changed his stance and accused Ashraf of breaching the code of conduct or rules and regulations. When Asharaf told me about the phone call he received from Javed Ullah, I as a second presenter phoned Javed Ullah. He said to me the apology was ok but after the apology, I shouldn't have said, 'We live in a free country and everybody has the right to express his/her opinion. One of the mass media's responsibilities is to educate people and give them opportunity to see both sides of the picture.' (something on those lines).These comments were deemed wrong. At first, Javed Sittar (Projector Director) indicated his approval by singing the apology and then after coming to know that some of the Muslims are still not satisfied, the management now turned on us presenters. We believe they know they might not get what they want by highlighting **'the offence issue' **but the presenters are the easy target. So we are summoned to see the management on Thursday the 6th of August. When I declined because I have taken time off from work to take my family out, Javed Ullah threatened to suspend me from presenting the programme in future. Because I talked about freedom of speech, I am being threatened. On Thursday the 7th August Ashraf was called in to meet with the radio management. During that meeting it emerged that we were alleged to have * Breeched the code of conduct, although they have during these two weeks not been able to show us a code of conduct which clarifies their accusations and on which they could base their claims. * Didn't read the apology in Urdu in which initially Asif Mall made his comments(Apology was written in English and after the apology was read out, the Director of Project, Javed Sitar singed without objection). * Ashraf didn't stop me (Co-presenter) when I said ' 'We live in a free country and everybody has the right to express his/her opinion. One of the mass media's responsibilities is to educate people and give them opportunity to see both sides of the picture.' (Something on those lines). For these charges no written explanation has been given although we have been asking for a written explanation. Now management has said program of coming Saturday might go on air but we are suspended from presenting it. This we believe is bullying (the management is largely Muslim) and unfair to suspend us without proven guilty of any of the charges made. The storm is still raging and I don't know what will come out of this. We thank God that Britain is a free country and people have the right to express their belief just as much as Muslims have the right to say that the Bible is corrupt and untrustworthy, Jesus Christ is not the Son of God and we should not worship Him which can be an offence to Christians. Christians take that kind of opinions as an opportunity to explain their faith rather than to be offended and intolerant.” The suspension of the Christian presenters highlights discriminatory and intolerant attitude that many minority communities, especial Christian minority experiences not only in Pakistan but out side Pakistan. The fact that this is beginning to happen here in the West is even more worrying. The freedom of speech is a great virtue of any civilized society and never comes without a cost. The West paid a great price to achieve the freedom of speech but it seems as if some Muslims want to take away this freedom. The above story might not be the last if, people in the, West didn’t strongly resist and condemn such discriminatory actions.