Daily Times

Sir: The beheading of the second Japanese hostage is not a surprising news for those who know the real face of Daesh whose strategy is based on violence. They are in fact following the footprints of a tribal force from medieval times with no rules and principles to fight a war, except to behave like a killing machine. The former commanders and regional leaders of al Qaeda from various parts of the Middle East and Pak-Afghan quagmire are offering their allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Their counterpart in Africa, Boko Haram is doing exactly the same thing in Nigeria and its neighboring countries by establishing the fear factor. The time has come to ascertain the fact that diplomacy and dialogue can’t work with these terrorist organizations. We need to realize that both Daesh and Boko Haram have a wider regional and international agenda; if not tackled today (though we are already late by years), tomorrow will be far more frightening. In parallel, religious scholars need to work together to come up with the counternarrative of what Daesh, Boko Haram and al Qaeda have been using to justify their acts of terror. Without an authenticated counternarrative, terrorist organizations will keep attracting disillusioned and vulnerable youth to their fold while promising the revival of the Caliphate to rule the world. Someone needs to tell these youth that we are no more living in medieval times. If you want to rule the world, you need to excel in science, technology and the economy, not in beheading and stoning. An authenticated counternarrative by respected religious scholars is the only way to take the fight on terror to its logical conclusion.

MASOOD KHAN

Jubail

Saudi Arabia