Auckland, August 29, 2020
It has been decades since the word ‘terrorist’ has been associated with a single religion due to the sovereignty of White diplomacy.
Many Non-Muslim terrorist activities have taken place in the Western world that were recorded and openly publicised but none of them was considered religious fanatics or acts of White terrorists.
They have either been labelled as ‘mentally ill’ or their acts have been pushed under the carpet and constrained from media projection.
Judgement in Christchurch
On Thursday, August 27, 2020, White Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant (29), responsible for the massacre of 51 innocent and vulnerable Muslims at Al Noor and Linwood Mosques during their segregated prayers on March 15, 2019 in Christchurch was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole at the Christchurch High Court.
This could have easily played down, or Tarrant could have been prosecuted behind closed doors like how many countries that have covered up men like him with the excuse of insanity.
But not in New Zealand.
It was not an easy task for New Zealand to get to this end.
Easy assumptions
It seems very straightforward to the world that Tarrant committed murder and got imprisonment. It is easy to imagine that Muslims were brutally murdered, but no agitations and reactions took place. It is easy to accept that the families of the victims are normalised without any grief and mourning.
It was not easy. It was not painless to go through the process to reach the justice.
Solidarity and empathy
Since the first day, we as nation stood together to confront the challenges and bear the pain.
Instead of following a hypocritical approach, our leaders, communities, media groups, financial institutions – everyone in country fought with stress and anxiety that a White supremacist gave us in the name of hatred.
We amended the gun laws, provided financial support to the families of victims, banned hate speeches on mainstream and social media, organised community counselling programmes, acknowledged the community’s presence and culture, promoted our interfaith harmony and developed the brotherhood and so forth.
We stood side by side with the victims, their families, and with each other as a nation.
Salutations to a Nation
I salute the great leadership of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her brave and wise decisions.
I salute Kiwis for their honest and unbiased support throughout the ordeal.
I salute the fairness of media and anti-racist organisations for their prominent voices.
I salute the human instinct of people living around the globe who stood against brutality.
Today, it has been made crystal clear that religion has nothing to do with the act of terrorism.
Today, it has been proved that humanity has not been completely lost.
Today, world has seen that Justice prevails no matter what.
Today, it has been acknowledged to the world that killing does not justify your inner feelings, emotions and sentiment against others.
Today, New Zealand set a precedent that terrorists do not belong to any race, ethnicity or religion.
Lessons to the world
The world needs to learn from us to be brave to make decisions when it comes to righteousness and humanity. The world needs to take more step against Islamophobia and come to up with solid concrete resolutions and legislation to avoid Brent Tarrant mindsets that prevails in our beautiful world.
I am proud of being a member of New Zealand Whānau. I am proud Kiwi and I am proud Muslim.
It is just a beginning of Aroha to develop whakaute (respect) to establish peaceful interfaith communities where our generation cherish without a fear of anti-racist emotions and insecurities. This struggle of our nation would continue every moment with every breath we are taking.
Khalyd Baloch is a community worker, social activist and philanthropist. He evinces interest in social, economic and political issues and current affairs. He migrated to New Zealand from his native Balochistan in Pakistan in 2001 and lives in Auckland. He contested for membership of the Howick-Local Board at the local government elections in 2019.
