Shunning the Killers
As was expected, there are news reports that link the Mumbai killers to Pakistan. The Joint Police Commissioner said the terrorist they captured alive told them that they were linked to a Pakistani group that was supported by that country’s intelligence services and to Islamic organizations in the Hindu-controlled Kashmir region of India where Muslims are regularly the victims of ethnic cleansing.
There’s an ugly irony in the fact that what drives these people to slaughter each other in most brutal ways are their different religious beliefs; that is, their choice of different imaginary friends, as the late Richard Jeni, a comedian, described the situation. Since their gods are supposed to be holy and good, using religion as a reason to kill is hypocritical in the extreme.
It is probable that some of the victims of the Mumbai attacks were Muslims, just as many of those killed by Sunni and Shiite suicide bombers in Iraq shared religious beliefs with their killers. But religion didn’t seem to matter. The apparent strategy of the attack, as with most terrorism, was to create terror. The more innocent the victims, the greater the success.
The idea behind terrorism is to induce a change in policy by pushing the people to rise up against the government, if not in force than at least in adequate clamor. Of course, the clamor is usually for government to do more to stop terrorism, and neither is thinking supplication.
It’s ironic, too, that their tactics are not thoroughly derided for the intrinsic cowardice of their acts. They are not attacking the government. They are not confronting the military. They are murdering unarmed civilians including women and children without warning. What god says that’s a noble venture?
Indeed, it is the duty of religious leaders to remove this scandalous fig leaf and shun the killers.
©2008 SetonnoteS
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