THE brutal massacre of 50 defenceless Muslim in Christchurch is a massive intelligence failure on the part of the New Zealand authorities. The Australian extremist who committed this foul deed and the 18-year-old who helped by filming the evil act are not the only ones carrying the xenophobia venom.

The NZ authorities need to beef up their intelligence and mark and monitor those with a similar mindset. A beginning has been made as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed that the country’s gun laws would be made stricter and within days.

In this hour what Muslims basically need to learn is to live by the core teachings of the Holy Quran, and the teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). This one measure will make their own countries so appealing and prosperous that they would not need to emigrate to other lands.

M. R. Ali
Karachi

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THE massacre of Muslims by an extremist Australian was a shocking deed strongly condemned by all New Zealanders.

What angers one is that the leader of the sole Superpower initially refused to condemn it as a terrorist act. Such intense hatred and bigotry will fan further the flames of animosity between religions and help the United States maintain its position as world’s number nation selling weapons.

Hats off to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden who — before all — considered the deed a wanton terrorist act committed by a bigot and a fascist. She has since refused to call the mass murderer by name stating he does not even deserve a name.

Bigotry and extremism are a universal problem and has affected all nations of the world. We must strive collectively to deal with it regardless of religion, creed and caste.

Irshad Hameed
Washuk district, Balochistan

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2019