Journeys to democracy

#‎AllLivesMatter‬ My heart goes out to the family and friends of Deah, Yosur, and Razan, the beautiful young people whose lives were so cruelly snatched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ostensibly over a ‘parking dispute’.

It’s not front page or breaking news in the US mainstream media the way that racial killings or murders committed by Muslims make the news. Those defending the media in this case say that the murders were not motivated by Islamophobia, and that to highlight the religion of those involved is to create conflict.

Vigil in North Carolina for the Chapel Hill victims.

Sorry, I disagree. Yes, it was a parking dispute, not pre-meditated murder, but those killed were very visibly Muslim. I question whether the fellow would have shot to kill a young white couple and a young white woman.

On the other and, some are politicising the issue, expressing outrage that the killings are not being termed as terrorist and using the incident to whip up more hatred against the West and non-Muslims. Many of those doing so don’t show the same level of outrage when Shias or Ahmadis are killed in Pakistan. (See Babar Sattar: Our fleeting resolve)

I am struggling to understand the definition of the word. I believe it is different for different people. In its most commonly used/understood sense a terrorist is someone acting on political motives in pre-meditated, planned killings (and it is often synonymous with Muslims). See Eqbal Ahmad: ‘Terrorism, their’s and ours’)

Another day, another mass funeral. Shikarpur imambargah attack victims

A lot of the school shootings and ‘road rage’ type of violence in the USA don’t fall under that category. It’s white men with guns – but mostly not motivated by a political ideology, or pre-meditated. Can/should men (or boys – in which case they have psychiatric issues usually) motivated by hatred, rage, bigotry against a race, religion be termed as terrorists?

The bottom line is that all such violence and murder are criminal acts. They must be proceeded against in accordance with law, whether perpetrated by those motivated by a political ideology (on the pretext of religion or anything else), or spontaneous rage.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ahmadis attacked, Chapel Hill shooting, Islam, Islamophobia, Pakistan, Peshawar APS, school schootings, Shikarpur attack, usa |