I agree with a very vital point raised by Tariq A. Al Maeena in his opinion article, ‘Christian terrorist on a killing spree’ published in The Views section of Gulf News of March 10.
His deliberate caption of ‘Christian terrorist’ was an eye-opener or should I say a wake-up call to humanity! It is like the saying ‘Give a dog a bad name and hang him!’ Thus, labelling a crime of terror with the religion of the perpetrators is very unfair and unjust! As per Al Maeena, such propaganda is the work of the media who invoke fear in the minds of common readers against a particular section, religion or cult. By constantly reading or watching news about a crime committed by a person or a group belonging to a particular religion, a connectivity takes place in the readers’ minds.
The author rightly says that terrorists have no religion except the religion that they create for themselves. Why should the other good, law abiding followers of Islam be judged as a ‘terrorist’ based on the actions of some deranged, ill-informed, uneducated and illiterate clerics? The responsibility falls heavy on the shoulders of the media who take an interest in highlighting the religious connections of that particular group again and again.
Similarly, on March 8 in Gulf News Letters to the Editor, a reader mentioned that: “Don’t group us all on the actions of a few!” Truly, why blame all Muslims or their religion??
I am from Mumbai, India, and have a lot of Muslim friends. I feel funny to even describe them as “Muslim friends”, and I never judged them or saw them from the angle of their religion! We all blend so well together that we would go out of our way to help each other.
In conclusion, terrorism is as much of a mental disease and as deadly as cancer! These extremists are mentally sick and if a cure is not found soon, they will be unstoppable and who knows where we will end up then.
— The reader is an Indian retired teacher based Mumbai, India