HOW TO STOP RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM IN THE COUNTRY?

Religious Extremism

The two Riyaz and Gauz Mohammad are Islamic extremists who wanted to rescue ‘the grace’ of their religion. That by beheading a local tailor who supported Nupur Sharma on social media.

The initial question that arise here – Can openly supporting someone online be the reason for one’s killing? Not only that releasing a video of it even.

Blind religious belief is a serious problem as demonstrated by Riyaz and Gauz Mohd. They have set a new record of extremism. Now, there is no doubt that this viral video will also be used to fuel other religious sentiments in the future. This barbaric video will be shown to instigate extremism for years to come.

How can the fire of extremism be extinguished in the country? Let’s learn about it.

Police investigation has found that the two terrorists were linked to Pakistan’s Dawat-e-Islami. One of them had been to Pakistan and probably radicalized there with religious teachings and literature. The two are said to be highly conservative. They would resort to fighting in locality if someone consumed alcohol. On June 17, Riyaz threatened beheading anyone who would disrespect Prophet Muhammad. Even approached others to do the same. Sadly, the video maker was not reported.

HOW TO STOP RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM IN THE COUNTRY?

After 12 days of releasing his previous video, he materialised the threats, and also recorded a video of attacking Kanhaiya Lal at the shop. Police had arrested Kanhaiya for his controversial post on Facebook. After his arrest and bail, Kanhaiya sought police cover as he pointed to threats. Police once again did not take it seriously. Talks of Nazim (named in the complaint) and police thought the issue was settled. Police underestimated the level of religious extremism in the country. Riyaz and Gauz Mohammad, as soon as they got a chance, did the unspeakable. Now, Nazim’s role is being investigated.

Blind religious belief is a serious problem as demonstrated by Riyaz and Gauz Mohd. They have set a new record of extremism. Now, there is no doubt that this viral video will also be used to fuel other religious sentiments in the future. This barbaric video will be shown to instigate extremism for years to come.

This incident raises questions over a growing trend of extremism. The video of the barbaric beheading and the follow up video announcing the murder were reflective of ISIS trying to spread terror and fear.

No advanced weaponry or planning; just grab hold of uneducated, unemployed individuals and radicalize them to the core. Lone wolf attacks in France became common, again linked to Dawat-e-Islami. This is a clear global pattern which is evident in India now. This is worrying because, earlier, terrorists needed to be imported from outside. Now, youth is in danger of being radicalized and misused by terror groups. Will such lone wolf attacks increase in India as they did in France? According to the Police, Riyaz, the main killer, is also connected to ISIS sleeper cell. Are there other radicalized people on the verge of attacking others? This must be stopped. Disagreement happens, but beheading? What will happen to our future if we are engulfed by extremism?

Whatever positive that has happened as an immediate effect is that the entire country has unanimously condemned this terror attack in strongest language. Everyone wants immediate exemplary punishment. Thecountry is not going to tolerate this. Muslim scholars denied that these two extremists were protecting Islam, the horrific act was against the religion. In fact, scholars should also say that blasphemy laws have no place in India. Stop demanding capital punishment for Nupur Sharma.

POINTS TO FOCUS ON

Government should give no chance to extremist forces. Fast track courts should be setup for these terror cases, be it anyone. Any extremist or terrorist who can go as far as taking life of another human being should have no place in our society.
The place where we as a country is failing is in our education system and on social media. Extremism is on the rise and patience as taught by religion is being eroded from memory. As long as that does not change, these cases will happen.
Our focus should strongly be on our economy. Such people generally belong to impoverished, economically weak section of society. So, it is better to bring back development agenda so that extreme ideologies are done away with on their own.
Finally, I request, stop watching mainstream media that is spreading poison in society. Media is very much to blame for these incidents. As a matter of fact, organizations requested the religious scholars to stop interviewing on these news channels. But they are still going for money, anyway.

If things are done rightly, we will become a $30 trillion economy. Otherwise the downward spiral is inevitable like Syria. So, beware of rigid thinking, call out extremism if around you and question everything.

03-07-2022

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking. You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com ( For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)