Islamophobia
threat
The carnage in
the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand during Friday payers on
March 15, 2019, has shocked the world into a realisation of the threat
Islamophobia poses to the peace and safety of people everywhere. The attacker,
Brenton Tarrant, turns out to be a 28-year-old Australian man who makes no bones
about his hatred for Muslims and all non-whites. In fact, his inspiration for
his dastardly act is not only inspired by contacts with extreme right wing
groups in Europe and elsewhere, his ‘hero’ appears to be US President Donald
Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose” for his
anti-immigration and racist views. Tarrant posted a 74-page manifesto online
before the attacks setting out his hate-filled views on immigrants generally
and Muslims in particular and live streamed the attack on social media as it
unfolded. His effort at the two mosques has yielded a death toll of 51 people,
six of them Pakistanis, including a father and son, Naeem Rashid and Talha
Naeem, who tried to tackle the terrorist and died of their wounds in hospital. Prime
Minister Imran Khan has dubbed them heroes and announced an award will be given
for their courage and selfless sacrifice. The dead and wounded (48, including
four Pakistanis) are from a number of Muslim countries. Some people amongst
those in the mosques at the time of the attack are still missing. New Zealand
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pulled no punches in describing the incident as a
“terrorist attack” and “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”. Amidst condemnation
and condolences by world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, one
insensitive Australian Senator Fraser Anning pointed to growing concern
regarding immigration into New Zealand and Australia as being behind the
attack, a statement that earned him not only egg on his face but literally on
his head from a young protestor at his press conference.
Ever since
terrorism became the currency of disaffected groups resorting to indiscriminate
violence to promote their agendas, the fact that the phenomenon owes its modern
origins to the Afghan wars and their fallout regionally and globally, it is
Muslims per se that have been painted by white supremacists, racists and people
asserting the need to push back against people of non-white ethnicities and
origins as terrorists en masse. This is neither rational nor factual, since
terrorists from Muslim countries still comprise a relatively small proportion
of Muslims worldwide. Muslim societies themselves, as Pakistan’s experience
shows, have been amongst the worst victims of terrorism, suffering some 70,000
deaths and billions in material damages. On the other hand, terrorist attacks by
white racists and supremacists against innocent Muslims have become all too
frequent in the west. New Zealand, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, is
home to its diverse citizenry and considers immigrants part of its community. Such
a shocking massacre is unprecedented in a country considered tolerant and
inclusive. While some Muslim country heads of government, such as Prime Minister
Imran Khan and President Recip Erdogan of Turkey have come out strongly against
Islamophobia as the inspiration for attacks against Muslims worldwide, world
leaders, the UN, the OIC and others have underlined the need to combat the
spread of such hateful ideologies that victimise innocent people, whether
Muslim or of any other faith. New Zealand is now faced with the unenviable task
of protecting Muslims and their mosques throughout the country (even elsewhere
in the west such steps have been taken in response to the Christchurch
tragedy), and it is contemplating departures from the peaceful past by bringing
in gun control laws and arming its police to face this new, unprecedented
challenge.
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