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We stand against attempts to subvert our common humanity in the name of religion, politics, nationalism or any other ideology

Public statement by American and Pakistani Muslims and friends

15 December 2015

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received via Beena Sarwar

Statement shared at the gathering on Dec 13, 2015, at Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA (Boston area)

Humanity Trumps All

Public statement by American and Pakistani Muslims and friends

We stand against attempts to subvert our common humanity in the name of religion, politics, nationalism or any other ideology

A year ago, on Dec 16, 2014, Taliban attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan. They gunned down school children, killing 144 students and several teachers, wounding many others. This was one of the most brutal attacks in Pakistan where militants have killed some 50,000 civilians and 10,000 military personnel over the last decade.

Today on Dec 13, as we American and Pakistani Muslims and friends gather to commemorate the massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar a year ago, another bomb blast claimed over 22 lives (and counting) in the town of Parachinar, Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan.

The ideology behind these attacks is the same that lies behind many other attacks that have claimed headlines around the world – in New York, Paris, Beirut, Madrid, London, Mumbai, Bali, San Bernardino, and countless other places.

The militants claim to act in the name of Islam, yet they kill innocents, including Muslim women and children, and Muslims of different sects whom the extremists consider to be non-Muslims. These fanatics have killed more Muslims than non-Muslims in their quest for political power since 9/11.

We unequivocally condemn these senseless attacks committed in the name of religion. These are heinous crimes that go against all principles of humanity. Such barbarity has no place in the civilized world.

The motive behind these attacks, whether in Pakistan or Lebanon, Paris or America, is the same: to terrorize innocents and create chaos. Militants feed on the fear and divisions in the community in order to push their hate narrative and further polarize society.

We refuse to allow that to happen. We stand against attempts to subvert our common humanity in the name of religion, politics, nationalism or any other ideology.

We reject the radicalization of Islam or any other religion. The cancer of extremism has to be eradicated.

We stand united against the forces that are trying to hijack Islam, a religion that 1.4 billion Muslims peacefully follow.

We assert that religion is a personal matter and no one has the right to impose their version upon anyone else.

We refuse to allow the use of religion for political or business agendas.

We condemn and reject the radicalization of political thought in America and elsewhere. Violent and extremist political rhetoric leads to violent and extreme actions. It de-humanizes a community and encourages some to feel justified in attacking ‘the other’.

We saw this in Europe when the Fascists targeted Jews and Gypsies. We saw Americans of Japanese heritage targeted and interned during WWII. We saw the “communist†witch-hunt of the 1950s. We remember the origin of the term witch hunt, stemming from the persecution of alleged witches, burnt at the stake in the name of religion.

History is replete with such examples. Today the target is Muslims. Countless individuals have been attacked, intimidated and threatened in public places just for being or ‘looking like’ Muslims.

We stand with those who refuse to allow this witch-hunt mentality to prevail today. It is out of place in our value system. It violates the Constitution that ensures freedom, liberty and justice for all. We reject rhetoric in the name of religion or politics that polarizes communities, making them weak from within.

Endorsed by the following organizations (list being updated):

  • Harvard Pakistan Student Group
  • Laal Band, Pakistan
  • Pakistan Caucus at the Harvard Kennedy School
  • Pakistanis in Mississauga/GTA Against Terrorism, Canada
  • #ProjectPakistan, Dallas
  • More Than My Religion art collective
  • Veterans For Peace, Smedley D. Butler Brigade
  • Pakistani American Political Action Committee (PAKPAC)
  • Pakistani American Association of New Hampshire
  • Pakistani Association of Greater Boston (PAGB)
  • Association of Pakistani Physicians of New England (APPNE)
  • The Citizens Foundation (TCF-USA)
  • Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) New England
  • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Peace & Economic Security Program
  • Temple Shir Tikva, Wayland
  • Christ Church, Cambridge
  • Critical Connections, MA
  • AdvoPak, Washington DC