Recently, a development in which the picture of the Islamic prophet Muhammad was depicted in a school textbook sparked a massive outrage as Muslims consider the visual representation of all Islamic icons as blasphemous. Infuriated by the depiction, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have asked schools in the Valley to withdraw the book from the syllabus.
A textbook triggers outrage:
A textbook in Jammu and Kashmir school published an image of a painting of angel Gabriel in relevance with Prophet Muhammad that later angered the Kashmir people. Witnessing the outrage, J-K’s Board of School Education asked for the withdrawal of the book from the syllabus. The Board stated, “If the textbook is being used in any school, it must be withdrawn immediately. Otherwise strict action as warranted under the provisions of law shall be initiated,” the Board said. It also asked the publisher to withdraw the book from the market “in spite of the publishing house having regretted the mistake made by them”.
In addition to that, the District Magistrate of Srinagar also asked the police to register an FIR against the Jay Cee publications, the publisher of the ‘History and Civics’ book for class VII, which is taught in several schools of Kashmir.
The development came to highlight after a religious body, The Islamic Fraternity of Jammu and Kashmir, claimed that the publishing of the intolerable content in History and Civics of edition-2020 for class VII as a “conspiracy” against the community.
“This was a conspiracy being hatched by the Delhi based JAY CEE PUBLICATIONS against the Muslim community which got exposed well before the time,” IFJK president Mohammad Amir said.
The group also claimed that such acts have become frequent and the publisher had not insulted the prophet to mention his name without using Islamic honorifics like Peace Be Upon Him.
Apology letter by the publication:
However, Delhi-based publisher has apologised for the “error” after a social media campaign was launched against it on Sunday. The director of Jay Cee Publications J C Goyal, in the apology letter, asserted that “The publication of the picture was an unintentional mistake due to lack of knowledge about prohibition of picturisation of Islam.”
The publication further noted, “We as a whole team of Jay Cee Publications Pvt Ltd apologise and highly regret for the inconvenience thus caused to our respected brothers and friends, We also promise and assure all of our brothers and friends that the mistake will not be repeated in future editions.”
Well, the incident depicts the hypocrisy of the left-liberals and Islamists. They tend to justify the atrocious acts when Hindus and their religious sentiments are targeted but are protesting when Muhammad has been depicted in a textbook. Both the scenarios are however wrong and liberals need to acknowledge the same.