Eastern Europe fanning terrorist missions
THE WORLD head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim has charged that despite increased domestic restrictions to counter terrorism, the world’s most powerful countries are not doing enough to curtail the expansion of radicalised groups bent on death and destruction.
Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the Caliph of the Ahmadiyya community, is most alarmed by what he regards as a clear conflict with some European countries decrying extremism, while at the same time providing guns and bullets to the perpetrators. Mirza Masroor Ahmad
“They are not doing enough, they are not serious!” he charged.
“If you are serious about stopping these brutalities and atrocities, then you would have to take action,” he said, suggesting that these European countries and the United States could take sanctions against the breeding grounds for extremists.
“It is not that you are sitting here as a third-world country printing notes. The United States is one of the most modern countries in the world and you know your economy, you know the number of dollars you print, can’t you calculate the amount of money going to these groups?” the Caliph asked.
ARMS FROM EASTERN EUROPE
He further asserted that extremists are getting their arsenal armament from eastern European countries and the governments are aware of this.
According to Ahmad, certain European governments would also be aware that billions of dollars are leaving their countries, passing through the United States to Iraq, for extremist groups like ISIS to pay for oil from captured wells supplying places like Syria and Turkey.
The Caliph said the taint of terrorism means that his community has to enter to fight for peace, as dictated by the true Islam.
“We have to fight against them, not with sword, not with gun, but with continuous effort, and that is what we have been doing all over the world,” Ahmad said.
The world head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community said he was very aware that in doing so, his life is also threatened by radical groups bent on destroying his sect.
“To us, we have a double threat: living in this country and being an Ahmadi Muslim.”
At the same time, he said his community continues to expand, with more than 500,000 new members this year, pushing the total membership into tens of millions.
But the pervasiveness of the negative perception of Muslims in general because of the actions of radical groups continues to pose a challenge to further expansion.