Murder and Apology

In the hysteria and media vulturism that has surrounded the murder of Lee Rigby, I still feel that this post comes too soon. The family of the dead soldier needs time to grieve, the space to support each other and to make sense of the situation. The media is not as forgiving however and sensationalism grabs the headlines. Much as I try to resist being drawn in, eventually I feel that I should also voice a comment.

I'm at odds with the media adopting extreme views, but I'm also at odds with jumping on the bandwagon of apology or justification. These are not appropriate responses. Lee Rigby was murdered in cold blood, in a most gratuitous and savage manner by assailants who had somehow been dehumanised. That act of absolute unashamed brutality, the immediate events leading up to it and the delayed response of the authorities should be under the media and investigative microscope. For the same reasons, I made a decision not to comment on the Boston attacks the Woolwich murder has led to Muslims being rolled out onto the social media platform to apologise or distance themselves from acts of terror (murder). This is a type of approval seeking and constant apology is something that I do wish to entertain. Frankly, I sense inferiority when this has to happen and I'm bored with it. Murder of someone innocent is murder. It is heinous and it deserves a just punishment. That is true if some white Norwegian is behind this or some deranged  men on the streets of London are behind this. Individual acts like this simply do not represent all the members of a society. It creates an unnecessary pressure to be apologetic. Would we also call it murder if the innocent are killed by soldiers in combat? That perhaps is a rhetorical question, though it is one I could come back to in a future post. Right now, this apology by the BBC's Nick Robinson - where the killers in the Woolwich murders were described as having a 'Muslim appearance' - has the sad potential to be almost comic.

Read Areeb Ullah's take on this.

Image Source: Real Street

Sacrilege

Eventually there is a tipping point. The Afghan protests following the burning of the Quran by Americans in Baghram have escalated and have broken out across the country. Several deaths - first Afghan and now American - and a NATO shut-down have not slowed down the outrage.

Photo: MSNBC

The key to understanding the reaction to these events is simple. Muslims revere the Quran. Afghans are Muslim. Americans, allegedly trying to prevent Afghans in detention passing messages to insurgents deemed as Taliban sympathisers, incinerated copies of the Quran that were supposedly being used to pass on messages. The truth about the Afghans held in detention and to whom the messages were going was handled insensitively and with disrespect. US officials, even up to the US President himself have made attempts to apologise. In reality, however apologies don't always work, especially if they are seen as token and tensions are already high due to an over-long and unpopular occupation. The truth is the Afghan insurgency gains strength from just this sort of action.

Déjà vu

One day the Americans will need to leave Afghanistan and a dignified exit would always be the best way to go. The problem with occupation is that it is closely coupled with arrogance and the message that should be learned is that respect and humility is good. Neither have been shown and this is bound to accelerate calls for the Americans to go. History is testament to the fact that in Afghanistan, eventually, it is the Afghan way that prevails.