“This dastardly terrorist attack against Muslims is not a rarity or an aberration, it is unusual though that it comes from a non state actor. In the usual scheme of things, Muslims are victims of state terror directly, be it colonisation of Muslim lands for resources, unjust military occupations, ethnic cleansings or communal pogroms. The intense hatred and racism against Muslims, inadequately termed as islamophobia, is the most deadly pandemic of our times and is directly responsible for these atrocious acts. Even the majority of victims of nihilistic terror by the likes of ISIS and TTP are Muslims. Despite millions of Muslim lives lost to state and non state terror, the image one can conjure of a terrorist remains of a bearded Muslim man brandishing a gun, that is the power of a narrative peddled by the corrupt, complicit and hateful media all across the world. Thanks to the latter, this “event” will soon be forgotten, conveniently, without hashtags of global solidarity, candle light marches or social media safety badges, simply because Muslims are the other for the current global world order. But resistance to such globally rising fascist bigotry is also waged by Muslims, despite their many shortcomings and relative powerlessness, in many parts of the world and that too will not change anytime soon.
May God’s peace be with the victims and may their families find strength to bear the unbearable.”
–Mir Laieeq