Why We Blame America for Anti-Muslim Film

September 17, 2012, 10:19 am

By BETWA SHARMA

SRINAGARâ€" Three young men picked a shady, grassy spot, out of earshot from the crowds bustling about the University of Kashmir campus, to talk on Saturday afternoon.

A day earlier, they had helped organize an on-campus protest against the anti-Islam video that has sparked violent protests in several Muslim countries. The business students asked that only their first names be used because they feared punishment by the university. “We don't want to get caught,” said Faraz, 21.

For these students, the film has provided a fresh vent to express their deep-rooted resentment against the United States. “We see it as one more deliberate insult toward the Muslim world af ter invading our lands for 10 years,” said Tanveer, 24, as his friends nodded.

The “Innocence of Muslims,” an amateur trailer for a film that does not appear to exist, depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, child molester and crook. The trailer led to international protests after it was uploaded on YouTube and translated into Arabic. Kashmiri Muslims described the video as “unbearable,” and thousands flooded the streets of Srinagar to protest against the film on Friday.

The demonstrations have broken a relatively peaceful period in Kashmir, which has seen a two-decade-long conflict between militants and the Indian Army. Violent protests, which wracked Srinagar a few years ago, have subsided. Tourists, especially Indians, are flooding in. The valley is divided between those who pray for stability and others who describe the calm as a temporary illusion imposed by the military boot.

Some believe that anti-Americanism is one the rise in Kashmir because of the United States' continued presence in Afghanistan and countries in the Middle East, and a feeling that right-wing Christian and Jewish groups have outsize influence in the United States.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a resident of California, has been identified as the one of the people behind the film, although most Kashmiris interviewed referred to him as “Sam Bacile” â€" the name used to upload the film to You Tube.

The students are supporters of Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a hard-line Kashmiri separatist, who said in an interview that he blames the United States for the film because it was made on American soil. The 82-year-old leader, who is often placed under house arrest at his home in Srinagar, also criticized Britain, Israel and India, along with the United States, for being “involved” in acts that hurt Muslim sentiments.

“The strike is also against their attitude, against their policies and against their actions against the Muslim Ummah (community) and against Islam,” he said. “We can give our life, but we cannot tolerate anything which will be against the respect of our lovely Prophet.”

Last week, four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, were killed when Islamist militants attacked the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, over the film. Protests spread over the weekend to about 20 countries, and on Monday to Afghanistan.

Kashmiri leaders have condemned the killings. “We are not liking these things,” said Mr. Geelani. “Innocent people who are not directly involved in any film or any injuries toward the Muslim community should not be targeted.”

Still, some young Kashmiris found it logical to blame the actions of the filmmaker on the United States. “After all, Osama bin Laden's 9/11 was blamed on the entire Muslim world,” said Junaid, 23, the third student. “Sam Bacile is one American, but then we can take it as all of America,” he s aid.

Arguments in favor of free speech do not carry much weight here. Junaid pointed to India, where the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was recently slapped with sedition charges for insulting the national emblem in a cartoon about corruption. “When this arrest can be done for nationalism, then why not religion?” he asked. “To us, religion is the most important because the whole Muslim nation is one.”

Tanveer added that he doesn't care if the West makes fun of Jesus Christ in books or movies. “Their society may now be secular, but we have retained our allegiance to God,” he said. “Why are they imposing their ways on us?”

Young people in Kashmir are being influenced by Wahhabism, a conservative form of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia, said Muhammad Shafi Pandit, the first Kashmiri Muslim to join the Indian Administrative Service in 1969. Kashmir has seen a perceptible rise of Wahhabism, he said, and more young Kashmiris are taking hard-line position s. “Their ways are not part of Kashmir,” he said. “Our pluralistic ethos should not be lost.”

For separatist groups, the film has also triggered anger against the United States because it has not pressured India for Kashmir's independence. They recalled that the United States supported Kashmir's cause for self-determination in United Nations Security Council during the 1950s and 1960s. Since the turn of this century, though, the United States and the Indian government have grown closer, they say, as have India and Israel.

Gul Mohammad Wani, a well-known political science professor at the University of Kashmir, sees the film as a harbinger of future troubles. It is one example of a “right-wing deviation of United States foreign policy,” which he said is reflected in statements made by the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who called Jerusalem the “capital of Israel” while visiting the city in July. “This is so wrong at a time when it 's in the United States' interest to engage with the Muslim world,” he said.

The video, however, has produced a stronger reaction among young people than among their leaders. For instance, Mr. Geelani's supporters expressed surprise that he hasn't called for stronger action.

“We have not said, enough is enough,” the elderly separatist leader told India Ink. “We do not give any strike, any program without necessity.”

Jammu and Kashmir Mutahida Ulmayee Aehlay Sunnah, an umbrella group for several Muslim organizations, has appealed to all Kashmiris for a complete shutdown on Tuesday.

During the press conference on Sunday, its leaders spoke more about the United States- Israeli nexus than about the film. They shared plans to boycott American and Israeli goods in Kashmir as well. “The American and Israeli machinery is working against Muslims,” said Mirwaiz Qazi Ahmed Yasir, a spokesman for the group.

In an interview, Kashmir's top relig ious leader, Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad, mentioned the possibility of issuing a fatwa of death against the filmmaker after a full investigation. “It could be of death or it could be some other punishment,” Mr. Ahmad said. “If a person has insulted the Prophet Mohammed and if he remains adamant on the disrespect, then the punishment is death.”

But not all Kashmiris are preoccupied by these religious matters. Hilal, a young driver who declined to give his last name, was too busy driving tourists around to have participated in the protests. “The number of people who visited this year is unbelievable,” he said.

The relative peace over the past few years has been a huge boost for the hospitality business in the valley. After the hotels filled up in the summer, people offered makeshift accommodation to the tourists streaming in.

Last week, Mr. Ahmad called for American tourists to leave. The religious leader, whose order found little support with o ther Kashmiri leaders, now insists that he only asked Americans to leave for their own safety. “I welcome all tourists, any tourist. Even Israelis come here,” he said. “I can give a statement against them to not allow them here, but I haven't done it because I am not an extremist.”