It's "terrorist attacks", not "religious conflicts"

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Xu Yi
Time
2019-04-26 01:17:52

On April 24, ISIS claimed responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people and injured more than 500. By now, Sri Lanka government or international organizations has yet to confirm the claim except focusing on the investigation of an extremist religious organization called NTJ. Ruwan Wijewardene, Sri Lanka’s Defense Minister, said the plotters were reacting to last month’s terrorist attack on mosques in New Zealand.

Experts generally believe that local extremist organizations in Sri Lanka are unable to carry out such large-scale terrorist attacks. They should have links with international terrorist organizations, in a manner of speaking, the attacks they launched were like the usual practices of ISIS and al-Qaeda.

As retaliation for the terrorist attacks on Muslims in New Zealand, the purpose of this series of terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS, revealed by the government of Sri Lanka, confirms the previous fears of the public.

Sri Lanka and New Zealand are far apart from each other and have no problems left over from history. Recent terrorist attacks made them both the victims of religious fanatic actions. Such “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” attacks have never happened on such a large scale in the past.  

Countries need to attach great importance to avoid the poisonous impact of this religious trend. Terrorists clearly want to “mobilize the masses” with terrorist attacks labeled “religious retaliation”, create further religious divisions, make a great mess of the world, and seek opportunities to expand their influence.

In the tide of globalization, the globalization of religious emotion has become one of the more prominent ideological phenomena. As globalization allows daily contact, once religion enters a cycle of conflict in one place and their followers from other places can take part in through public opinion and other ways and means. In addition, a dispute can have many dimensions, but religious factors are often influenced by public opinions, and such tendency has obviously become intensified.

We now believe that neither the terrorist attacks in New Zealand nor in Sri Lanka should be labeled simply as “religious conflicts”. They are terrorist attacks launched by extremists. The reason why the attackers targeted specific religion was that they wanted to incite religious hatred. To prevent the spread of such influence is an urgent response that governments and justice forces around the world should take.

However, the United States and other Western countries adopt double standards on fighting terrorism, which resulted in a significant decline in global solidarity against counter-terrorism. It is most unfortunate that there are some different understandings and controversies about counter-terrorism.

Anti-terrorism cooperation is important; meanwhile, it is equally important for sovereign states to prevent the infiltration of extremism into their own countries. Extremism will have its own form variation and unique ways due to the individual situation of each country, but the consequences of destroying the legal order and endangering public security are similarly detrimental.

We are mostly concerned that it might become easier for extremists to incite religious hatred in the future, and countries, including the western countries, may not be able to curb this trend. Subsequently, new calculated terrorist attacks targeting specific religious groups may become highly probable events in the future. The continued intensification of such attacks may cause people’s serious concern and mislead the public's understanding of the nature of terrorism.

Global terrorism has been constantly forming new pattern and new mode of mobilization, which will pose new challenges to human rights and international peace.

China is one of the countries capable of keeping international extremism out of the door, and today,that’s specially our strength. China advocates the sinicization of various religions, which is also a favorable factor. We must resolutely maintain independence at the spiritual level and prevent external extremism penetrating into China through various channels. No matter what chaotic situations the world is facing, China will make sure to maintain peace and harmony.

Disclaimer: The author of this article is with the Global Times. The article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. Chinamil.com.cn does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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