Right-wing extremism ‘downplayed’
Christchurch’s terror attack on March 15, last year, was a ‘‘surprise’’ because the official security narrative framed Muslims as perpetrators, not victims, a Kiwi Islamic organisation says.
Federation of the Islamic Associations of New Zealand (Fianz), the country’s umbrella Muslim organisation, released its submission to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques yesterday.
The 208-page report – led by Muslim youth from a range of academic backgrounds, including one injured victim – is an in-depth look at how it believes the Government failed to protect the nation.
The submission states regularly it is intended to future-proof the nation’s security.
But there was a failure to analyse and assess the threat of Rightwing extremists until nine months before the attack occurred because the ‘‘systemic dysfunction’’ of the intelligence community.
Its engagement with Muslims was flawed, lacked diversity, and was ‘‘institutionally racist and Islamophobic’’.
Abdur Razzaq, chairman of the Fianz Royal Commission submission committee, said the intelligence agencies had failed to discover the terrorist – who he called a ‘‘rat’’, or ‘‘right-wing advocating terrorist’’ – because of inherent Islamophobia.
The ‘‘Rat’’ would have been easily identified if the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) or New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) were looking.
‘‘They searched out those Muslims who were looking at objectionable material, and they prosecuted. Can you see the standards?’’
He said the agencies had possibly misled Parliament, by a claimed misrepresentation of the threat of Islam in an annual report.
The report mentioned two cases of Muslims being arrested, both of which were found by judges not to be terrorists, he said. There was no mention of Rightwing threats.
The report said the ‘‘threat of Islamist extremist terrorism is elevated and the threat of Rightwing extremist terrorism is elided or downplayed’’.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet chief executive comes under fire in the report for failing to identify, assess and govern the security threat of Right-wing extremists.
The degree to which the official is responsible depends on their actions in their first months in the position, and whether they had any role in turning the intelligence community’s attention to Right-wing extremism or continued down the path set by their predecessor, the submission says.