As if to prove that intolerance begets intolerance, Hindu nationalists desecrated a mosque in Amritsar and burned copies of the Koran, the Muslim sacred text, saying their actions were a protest over a slaughter of cows by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Taliban said they had to slaughter the cows to atone for taking so long to destroy the ancient statues of Buddha blown up in March to the consternation of the international community. The desecration in Amritsar came a few days after unrest between Muslim protesters and police in Kanpur left 14 people dead. That violence began in protest over a Hindu fundamentalist’s burning of a Koran in Delhi to protest the TalibanÂ’s destruction of the buddhas. Tension remains high in Amritsar.
