It was only a matter of time that this would occur. This story was not picked up by the major newspapers or media sources, but it is a story that needs to be told. Seven illegal immigrants [six Pakistani and one Indian] were murdered by the Macedonian police in order for the Macedonian government to show that it was fighting with the West on the war on terror. In order to win some points, the Macedonian police fabricated evidence and executed 7 people whose only crime was to seek a better livlihood. This is not the first time that the war on terror pretext has been used. Witness last years Hindu-Muslim brutality in Gujarat, in which the nationalist BJP were complicit in the attacks. A few days ago in Nigeria, a coalition of Christian militias went on a mass slaughter of a Muslim village, in which conflicting reports tell of up to 500 dead. This is retaliation of early Muslim killings of Christians. It seems that the war on terror has expanded its boundries and it is open season on Muslims. All one has to do is mention the words militant, terrorist, fundamentalist, or jihadist and any action then can be justified. We let it come to this and should shoulder some the blame. This is our problem.
This is an old story and has been picked up widely, but it is one of the few positive stories about Islam that has been printed in recent memory. It deals with the Rwanda genocide and the reaction of the Muslim community in Rwanda in sheltering their Christian neighbors. The ethics and principles can still teach us lessons even in the darkest times. On a sour note, however, there is this article by Tarek Fatah, entitled "Its Time to End the Silence: Canadian Muslims Must Combat the Encroaching Threat of Fundamentalism" . The author rightly states that we are part of this society and are part of Western Civilisation. Quoting Fatah, "They voted with their feet to migrate to Canada, a secular parliamentary democracy, where they could listen to Bach and Beethoven without giving up Umm Kulsoom and Khanum Gogoosh, and where they could march against the invasion of Iraq without being sent to prison. Yet this silent majority seems to have neither the time nor the resources to combat the encroachment of their cultural and religious space by fundamentalists."
Make no mistake, we are under threat and in danger. Whether from the Patriot Act, from racial profiling, goverments eager to join the war on terror, or from within by those claiming to speak for us. What do you plan to do about it?