Scholar hails India's decision to reschedule Danish PM's visit

New Delhi, Mar 19 (UNI) A US-based eminent scholar and writer Omar Khalidi has lauded India's decision to reschedule Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's visit to India, keeping in mind the anger of the Muslim community over the inflammatory cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

''I am delighted with India's decision. An attack on one religious figure represents an attack on all religious figures,'' Mr Khalidi said on the sidelines of an inaugural session of a three-day International Conference on Sufism yesterday.

Mr Khalidi of the Aga Khan Programme for Islamic Architecture, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, ''European powers must understand that religious figures cannot be touched. This has nothing to do with the freedom of expression. There are hundred other ways to demonstrate freedom of expression. It is above and beyond criticism.'' There have been widespread protests in India and in other parts of the world, against the caricatures that first appeared in a Danish newspaper last month.

Condemning the European government, he said, ''It is utterly hypocritical on part of the European press for not publishing cartoons of Jesus or anyone that is perceived outrageous for them.'' ''No doubt, the motivation behind the cartoons was to show the Muslims that unless they get rid of their identity completely, they will not be accepted as Europeans,'' he said.

''We have and you don't have and we are going to exercise that in the ugliest manner,'' he added, saying that all that was done to show their power to the Muslim community.

In contrary to this, the reception of the cartoons in America was totally different. Muslims had access to media, opinion makers and they had full cooperation of civil liberty union and women organisations, Mr Khalidi said.

They had whole range of people in the civil society to condemn the ugly cartoons. They immediately contacted the media and categorically said that they oppose violence in the name of Islam, he added.

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