On Tuesday, a deadly attack at Istanbul airport – in Tukey – killed 44 people, and injured over two hundred.
On Friday, an attack on a Café in Dhaka- in Bangladesh – took away 20 innocent lives.
Closer home, on the same Friday, flying shrapnel from a bomb, in East Eker – in Bahrain – took a woman’s life too.
‘Life’ just seems to hold no value to these killers, I thought. As I began to write this column, I suddenly hear another heart-rending news.
On Sunday morning, in two separate bomb attacks, yet again, in Baghdad – in Iraq – over 125 people have been killed and 150 wounded.
So, in just five days, in the holy month of Ramadan, we can see that scores of people from around the world are tragically killed by ruthless terrorists.
Murder and mayhem caused by bombers and gunmen is becoming common place. And, slowly, people are becoming so numb in their senses that they are unable to even condemn the brutality that is being unleashed — by men who are becoming beastly with their terror attacks.
“O Judgment ! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason!” goes a line in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ when Mark Antony gives his funeral oratorio.
And that line rings so true in the current-day context when we see brutal killings of innocent men women and children, by those we should not call mindless men. But, brutish beasts.
In this month alone – Ramadan month – USA, Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, and even Bahrain now, are facing attacks by terrorists. No country seems to be immune from the wickedness of terror mongers.
In Turkey alone, in the past year, different groups of militants have staged at least 14 major attacks, killing more than 280 people — 4 attacks in Istanbul (68 dead), 3 in Ankara (165 dead), 3 in Diyarbakir (15 dead), 1 in Suruc (32 dead), and 3 in Nusaybin and Omerli (5 dead).
What does this tell us about the minds of those perpetrating these crimes ? If they are not completely brainwashed, they are completely gullible. If they are not completely ignorant, they are completely insensitive.
We cannot let them hijack and twist some religious words to pervert the ends. We cannot let them hold for ransom the reasoning of humanity.
But for that to happen, the leaders must take strong action against those perpetrators of inhuman terror acts.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “The latest findings point to the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist organisation.” And, he wowed to hunt them down.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikha Hasina asked “what kind of Muslims are these who kill others during Ramadan?” during her second televised address to the nation following the terror attack on a Dhaka café.
She asked: “I want to ask those who are aiding terror, what do you get by taking innocent lives? Islam is a religion of peace, you are maligning its name. Anyone who believes in religion cannot do such an act. They do not have any religion, their only religion is terrorism”.
I recall the words of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an international conference recently: “Every year we spend over $100 billion on securing the world from terrorism, money that should have been spent on building lives of the poor. Let us remember the teaching of the Holy Quran that if anyone slew one innocent person, it would be as if he slew a whole people. Let us challenge the forces of violence with the kindness of our love and universal human values.”
It is apparent that the religion of the terrorists is only terrorism.
And if we stay silent we would become guilty of condoning the atrocities perpetrated by the heartless killers on their hapless victims.
International community must strongly come together, to aid one another, and to help the leaders of those nations that are being battered by these attacks. It must ensure that the leaders of nations that are suffering these attacks will be strengthed with a new resolve to fight the common ememy we are all facing everywhere. The ruthless terrorist. And make him toothless. At the earliest.