In the midst of growing terrorism and, as a consequence, Islamophobia in the west, the declaration of March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) comes as a welcome and much-needed move for world leaders to come together and form a cohesive, unified strategy to combat terrorism in all its manifestations around the globe.
Pakistan has played a significant role in this development as the resolution was introduced by the former on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). It marks the day when a gunman entered two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 victims and injuring 40 others. The resolution sailed through the august platform amid criticism raised by France, India and European Union. They demanded that the resolution was not inclusive of all religions but squarely focused on Islam. In fact, Islamophobia has become a reality and its manifestations are hate speech, discrimination, and violence against Muslims, which are proliferating in several parts of the world. Just like hard line religious zealots, who use Islam for their nefarious designs, the sufferers of Islamophobia commit crimes against ordinary Muslims due to their faith.
It is important to have like-minded Muslim countries from across the globe to collaborate in this endeavour; most importantly, it is important to have European Muslims aware of the true message of Islam and have them behave in a manner that shows Islam as it should be, not as what ‘preachers of hate’ make of it.
While extremism is a tendency that all people can be susceptible to depending on their circumstances and that religious extremism is not inherent in the religion. Islam is not the only religion that has been used as a cover to fight wars for purely political gain. Along with observance of the day, the leaders of the countries from which terrorist organisations originate and operate, need to address the lack of education, poverty and human rights concerns to eliminate the fear, ignorance and desperation that causes people, particularly youth, to fall prey to the rhetoric of extremists. World leaders need to work together on this highly sensitive issue. Space must be preserved for all nations to live in peace. The exploitation of religion for terror strikes is one of the worst acts. There is a need to implement such policies that cover all the diverse terror threats in different parts of the country and take action against them accordingly. The situation in the world at large also makes it necessary for Muslim countries everywhere to forge a common strategy to protect Islam from the dangers it faces from deviant Muslims themselves or from a scared and uninformed world at large.
