Daily Times

Sir: Apropos the news coverage on the North Carolina killings. Last week hash tag #MuslimLivesMatter on Twitter was one of the top trends in several regions for days; that’s quite understandable as thousands of people in the US gathered to mourn the killing of three young Muslim students in North Carolina. I will not comment on the debate being waged on public and social media platforms to ‘do’ and ‘undo’ the motives behind this gruesome crime. It could be a hate crime, or just a petty dispute simmering over a period of time reached such a horrible climax. However, I will question all those claiming it to be a hate crime; were these youth killed in a mosque? Did they ever report or complain of facing threats due to their faith? Did they ever report or is there any history of hot arguments exchanged with the culprit on faith-related issues? If the answer to all these questions is no, then why presume it’s a hate crime? Let the police investigate to prosecute the murderer for his crime. But my question to all those mourning the untimely death of these three innocent Syrian-Americans is, are the lives of Muslims worthy only when these are endangered by non-Muslims? Why no such vigil, outcry and protest when Muslims are killed all across the Muslim world by no else but fellow Muslims? We understand the Turkish President Erdogen’s criticism of the US president for not condemning the Carolina killings, which Obama obliged promptly by terming the incident as “outrageous murder”. But where is the condemnation when in Pakistan alone more than 50,000 civilian and military personnel are killed by the Taliban and their sectarian partners? Just this weekend, another Friday prayer congregation was targeted in Peshawar — not by non-Muslims but by those who have been declared by Pakistani religious parties as ‘our misguided brothers’. As we highlight the west’s double standards on media bias, why not first set the precedent by applying this #MuslimLivesMatter on ourselves. It’s on record that at any time in history the number of Muslims killed by fellow Muslims on sectarian grounds are always far higher than those killed by other religious groups. Let’s first put our own house in order before pointing fingers at others. On the other hand, it’s the infatuation with guns and violence that always leads to tragedies. Americans need to introspect for how long they would pay the price in the form of innocent students being killed on school and college campuses. Also this overdose of western TV coverage of what IS and other religion-based terrorist groups are doing in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, whether it is beheadings, kidnappings, enslaving of female prisoners, suicide bombings, attacking children’s schools, killing polio health workers should come under scrutiny. Such a graphic coverage of terrorist activities is leaving vivid imprints on some minds already made vulnerable by this overdosing of TV coverage. .

MASOOD KHAN

Jubail

Saudi Arabia