The Charlie Hebdo Tragedy!

Not only France, but also the entire world seems to be mourning over the Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris. People from all over the world are expressing solidarity with the victims against the terrorism. According to the media reports, the masked gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical magazine last Wednesday and opened fire, killing at least 12 people including two policemen.

The Charlie Hebdo, which is well known for courting controversy with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders, had previously been the victim of attacks by so-called Muslims extremists due to some of its controversial publications which they termed as attacks on Islam. On the Wednesday attack, the attackers were heard chanting “Allah-o-Akbar” and shouting "Hey! We avenged the Prophet Muhammad!”

Frankly speaking, any act of terrorism needs be termed as terrorism as it has no reasoning at all. Even in Islam, there is no justification for any sort of terrorism. The Last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) kept on preaching peace throughout His life. He always preferred patience, forgiveness and mercy than taking any revenge from even His deadly enemies. Therefore, all the acts being done in the name of “Prophet`s revenge” is Islamically wrong no matter it is the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris or the murder of former Governor of Pakistani Punjab, Salman Taseer.

The terrorists groups which relate themselves to Islam have nothing to do with it and Muslims at all. The so-called “Muslims” also targeted Muslims like the people belong to other religions. Perhaps, Muslims seem to have become the bigger victims of the extremism from so-called “Islamic Jihadi groups” all over the world. The violence from ISIS, Al-Qaida, Boko Haram and Taliban reflect the same. That is the reason why the prominent Muslim organizations and institutions including the Arab League and Al-Azhar mosque condemned the Paris attack as well. Their condemnation to the attack is the formal disassociation from the filthy views of the terrorists.

In Pakistan too, people have been facing the worst form of terrorism from the similar mindset in the name of Islam. They have buried over 60,000 dead bodies given by Taliban extremists. Recently, the killings of at least 134 school children were the worst form of brutality that the Pakistanis had to face. And that was the massacre that the people are still mourning.

It is worth noticing that after the blood bath in Paris, the French people came out on the road in thousands protesting against the incident and the terrorists. The unity of people in Paris gave a very clear message to the terrorists and their aiders and abettors that they were on one page against them and they would not let the killers take any more lives so easily.

But, very unfortunately, despite having lost thousands of common people including the children, we see a clear division over how to deal with Taliban in Pakistan. Some of the prominent religious groups seem to be having sympathy for the extremists while the liberal parties, in spite of their difference with Taliban, have not come up with the required bold stance against the terrorism. However, MQM (Muttahida Qoumi Movement) has emerged as the loudest and clearest voice against the Taliban, Al-Qida and ISIS. From 9/11 to the attack at Malala Yousuf Zai and from 7/7 to the recent attack at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, MQM`s chief Altaf Hussain have been strongly condemning the terrorism. He also held huge public gatherings in Karachi as a protest against the extremists.

Considering the names of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) being misused by the sick mentality against not only the Muslims, but also the people belonging to other religions, Muslim priests will have to come forward in order to stop the on-going nonsense which is creating differences between the followers of Islam and other religions all over the world. The concrete measures need be taken immediately against the terrorist groups which are distorting the teachings of Islam. Otherwise, people would face not only more incidents like Charlie Hebdo, but also more consequent attacks at Mosques that will definitely create big threats to the peace of the world.