Sir: The ongoing killings of innocent people in various countries, particularly Muslim-dominated areas, where Christians, Jews, Ahmedis and people of other faith groups are considered by the extremists to be non-believers, are despicable and heinous crimes that should be condemned by all walks of life. Strict and collective efforts must be undertaken by the concerned governments to eradicate these people from the face of this planet to save innocent individuals. The Taliban’s strategy of killing foreigners and non-Muslims to avenge US drone attacks in the tribal region is not justifiable as the US has the Pakistani government’s consent to continue the strikes against the sovereignty of Pakistan. I feel ashamed to see how these ‘custodians of faith’ have targeted a church in Peshawar and a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing scores of innocent people, contrary to God’s saying that killing an innocent person is like killing the whole of humanity.
It is also regrettable to see the political manoeuvrings under which key figures of the Taliban leadership are being released by Pakistan for the Afghan government to achieve a peace deal with them. This may imply that all concerned governments have surrendered to the extremist group and that this trend of extremism will continue in the days ahead. The obligatory propagation of Islam can never be achieved by compelling people through extremist tactics as there is no compulsion in Islam. They can achieve the objective of propagation of faith by good deeds and character, and by fairly treating other human beings.
MOHAMMAD ASHRAF
Winnipeg,
Canada