This is with reference to the report “French Muslims feel fear and alienation after Nice attack” (July 20). It seems that the terrorists of Daesh and its likes are deliberately carrying out attacks in the West to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims. Unfortunately, the mainstream western media is not playing a positive role in the fight against terrorism. The reporting of terror incidents involving Daesh or Al-Qaeda somehow paints all the Muslims with the same brush instilling fears in the hearts of non-Muslim westerners. The extremist elements in the Muslim world don’t enjoy popular support. They don’t represent Muslims. The western media should highlight the fact that Muslims are the main targets of these terrorists. In fact, by attacking westerners these lunatics are indirectly targeting Muslims living in the West. It seems that the mainstream western media has fallen into the trap of these terrorist organizations and are only helping their cause by their biased and lopsided reporting of terror incidents.
We, Muslims and non-Muslims, should join hands against all forms of terrorism and extremism in the world. Extremists belonging to any faith are people with unbalanced personalities and they want to impose their worldview on others by force. I don’t find any difference between the lunatics of Daesh, RSS of India and Ku Klux Klan etc.
The French authorities should not compromise on their country’s liberal ideals. France should devise a comprehensive strategy to fight extremists and to ensure that its Muslim population is not alienated or marginalized. France should also study the socioeconomic factors responsible for the rise is radicalism among its Muslim population. Most of the perpetrators of terror attacks in France appear to be disgruntled youth with no purpose in life. They all belonged to the downtrodden social class of the French society. Without taking into consideration all these factors, France may not be able to effectively fight terrorists. — Haris Shakeel, Jeddah
Fighting radicals
