Yesterday, London is under siege
again. Nowadays, terror attacks in London or in UK become norm. The current
situation is very much similar with the era of IRA threat in UK. The common
assumption is every terrorist attacks in UK or elsewhere will be executed by
jihadists who got the inspiration from ISIS or Al Qaeda propaganda tools.
But this terror attack in
particular is conducted by a white terrorist. His target was Muslims.
Interestingly he used the similar methods (a vehicle i.e. a van as a weapon)
used by the terrorists in London attacks last month.
The van driver, Darren Osborne is
killed one person and more than 10 people were injured. He used the van and run
down the pedestrians. His motive is unknown until now. He probably wants to
retaliate the attacks done by jihadists around the world in recent times
especially in UK. He wants the Muslims to feel what he felt when innocent
non-Muslims killed by these jihadists.
The latest attack is happened
outside of the Muslim Welfare House which is near to Finsbury Park
mosque. This mosque at once is regarded by the security and intelligence
agencies in UK as a radical hotbed for extremism in UK. The extremist preacher
Abu Hamza who was extradited from UK to USA. He was tried and sentenced to life
in prison without the possibility of parole.
In my view, this meticulous place
is targeted because it is significant to launch a counter terrorist attack in
the epicenter of the Islamic radicalism in UK. The terrorist has choose the
time where he make a big impact by attacking the Muslims after they done their
prayers.
This is a new paradigm of terror
attacks. This kind of attacks will be random in near future. A similar kind of
attack was conducted by a gunmen who killed 6 people and wounded 18 more at a
mosque in Quebec City, Canada.
Now, hate crimes are blossomed as
terrorist attacks. Recent study indicates that the rise of hate crime and
racist incidents on Muslims in UK.
How the security forces going to prevent this
type of attacks in future?This is a ‘double-edged sword' situation where they have to deter the threats from both sides.
Where and when the attacks will be launched?
This will be the paramount question which will be haunted the intelligence forces now.
The responsibility should not only be taken by intelligence and security forces but also the people and government. They must play an important role to prevent it. The reduction in budget for security issues in UK at this moment will not help the current situation because the monitoring spectrum getting wider and deeper. Additionally, the government of UK also must assist and provide the necessary help to these forces to deter this threat.
The UK government is at the crossroads. They need to find the right balance to satisfy the both sides by taking reasonable steps and measures to contain this threat. The current attack is a reflection of the policies of the UK government that the majority is marginalized by their own government in favour of minority. This perception need to be defeated with the counterproductive policies which will help the majority to feel such attacks are global threats which are not exclusive for UK only.
Kuala Lumpur.
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