COMMENT An excerpt from Fareed Zakaria's opinion piece titled 'Blasphemy and the Law of Fanatics' published in The Washington Post on Jan 8:

As they went on their rampage, the men who killed 12 people in Paris this week yelled that they had "avenged the prophet".

They follow in the path of other terrorists who have bombed newspaper offices, stabbed a filmmaker and killed writers and translators, all to mete out what they believe is the proper Koranic punishment for blasphemy. But in fact, the Koran prescribes no punishment for blasphemy.

Like so many of the most fanatical and violent aspects of Islamic terrorism today, the idea that Islam requires that insults against the Prophet Muhammad be met with violence, is a creation of politicians and clerics to serve a political agenda.

The recent massacre of journalists and other innocents in Paris by Muslim extremists has resulted in a spontaneous and universal wave of sympathy, mourning and concern.

Leaders and ordinary people all over the world have joined in widespread condemnation of these dastardly killings - and rightly so. These are acts of twisted minds. There is no way in which the actions of the Muslim jihadists can be justified.