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Canadian Muslims asked to take responsibility

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: “If my community has any doubts about terrorism and its interpretation, this is the time that they become aware that problems within the Muslim community are not created by the West. This is the time when we collectively take responsibility for being careless and closing our eyes to reality,” a Pakistani-Canadian woman said.

Asma Arshad Mahmood, a former journalist, writes in the liberal daily Toronto Star that she is concerned about the suspects’ families and would like to know what mosques they frequented and where they received their education. She said this is because she does not want her children to answer to their friends and defend their faith so many times. “This is the sickness that needs to be addressed right away,” she says.

Referring to Urdu newspapers published in Canada (and the US), she says that “this is the time that we open our Canadian ethnic newspapers and read the content and intent of hatred generated for the very same West in which we live. It is the time when we realise that our responsibility as Canadians is to our country and its people. We cannot exonerate our community by saying that these terror suspects are home-grown Canadians. In reality, they have grown up with their loyalty lying elsewhere. They do not know how good they have it in Canada and that is the burning problem. They have been brought up thinking with the ‘back home’ mentality. That is what stops them from seeking jobs in military, police and other forces because they do not want to tie up their loyalties.”

Referring to the spurious cases brought against 29 Pakistanis by Canadian authorities last year – all of them were later deported – the writer notes that the community would like to confirm if the charges against the 17 suspects are valid this time. “However, if the case against these new terrorism suspects is valid, then the entire Muslim community has to join hands in not only condemning but also rooting out any other activity to discredit our children tomorrow. Whether reading ethnic newspapers or hearing words from the pulpit in the mosque, we should always be mindful of Canadian values. If what we read or hear goes against that, we should protest and complain just as we would if any discriminatory or harmful news appears in mainstream newspapers concerning our community,” she writes. “It has to be done and done now. Our community leaders, politicians and religious leaders need to issue the strongest statements of condemnations without the proxy of ‘however’ or ‘although’ and make it a special point of stressing this at all their gatherings. People come to Canada by choice. No one should have the false impression that Muslims cannot be sincere – like other communities – to the land that gives them freedom and opportunities to be their best.”

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