A recent tragic incident involving the cold blooded murder of three innocent Muslim students has left the Islamic community disbalanced and shocked. The Muslim community of Chapel Hill Carolina, USA was distressed when they heard an Atheist terrorist, Craig Stephen Hicks, killed 3 Muslim students; 23-year-old Deah Barakat his 21-year-old wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her 19-year-old sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha.The incident has placed the safety of Muslims in question, specially when the west acts oblivious to the obvious.
The western media has not been completely hushed about the incident because the killings at this level could not be brutally ignored; instead they have assumed a mild stance about the incident, as if reporting a mild day to day fact. The Muslim community is outraged at the hush adopted by the authorities. All the evidences pointed out to the fact that the killer’s motive was none other than religious hatred. Craig Stephen was an atheist and his Facebook account shows his outpouring hatred. The fact that the three victims coincidently happened to be Muslims cannot be ignored.
The media may portray Craig’s Stephen’s hatred as against all other religions but the fact that 3 innocent Muslims were targeted, just cannot be ignored. In this case, Craig Stephen was quoted by Fox News as a ‘North Carolina Man’, while in the recent incident that took place in France, Fox News quoted ‘Obama expresses his deepest sympathies to the people of France for the terrible terrorist attack’. CNN reported ‘A man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of 3 Muslim students’, while in case of France they reported ‘Members in the gallery wave yellow pencils as Obama mentions the Charlie Hebdon terrorist attack’.[junkie-alert style=”white”] The incident has placed the safety of Muslims in question, specially when the west acts oblivious to the obvious. [/junkie-alert]
The bias in the media reporting is clearly visible. The motive of the murder has been highlighted as a feud over a parking ticket. This doesn’t seem to be a satisfying fit. Even the Pakistani media is hushed about the incident, they seem to be more inclined in reporting and publicizing events that have no purpose,’ for instance Imran Khan’s marriage’ how come it became a national issue? Every channel was talking about nothing else for two days.
The media may appear to be neutral, but the fact remains that it is playing in the hands of those in power. While the death of the three Muslim students will be ignored and nothing will be done about the issue, killings involving non-Muslims will be blown totally out of proportion. Murders of any sort, may the victim belong to any religion or nationality cannot be justified. An unbiased approach must be adopted in order to address the injustice in the world or innocent people will keep falling prey to should acts of brutality.
