Media pays no attention to bombings in poor countries

Ruling on citizenship withdrawal excellent

“MORE than seventy people died when a suicide bomber targeted a park, killing at least 74 in Lahore, Pakistan on Easter Sunday March 27, 2016 including twentynine children,” columnist Dr Hamed Al-Humoud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“It looks like the terrorists chose the perfect timing and the place, particularly since they knew that the park was filled with a lot of Christians celebrating Easter and this is one of the reasons the proportion of the dead – women and children – is relatively high.

“Personally speaking, I went through three Kuwaiti newspapers, but only one of them reported the Lahore suicide bombing. This happened although the victims of Lahore bombings by far exceeded the number of victims in the Brussels (Belgium) bombing.

“Given the above, it looks like both our media and the international media pay no attention to the tragedies, disasters and bombings that occur in poor countries.

“In other words, our local media seems to be in agreement with the international media when it comes to paying concern to the events happening in advanced nations more than those in relatively poor countries and we know the Kuwaitis are not used to visiting these countries irrespective of the number of victims that may be claimed by terrorism.

“In this context, we say it looks like neither the number of victims nor the volume of the tragedy plays a role in specifying the concern of the international media toward such events, rather this concern is linked to the place and the nationality of the victims.

“Moreover, any terrorist act carried out in a country which is considered politically stable and progressive economically will be more shocking than otherwise.

“Brussels, for instance, is of special significance for both Europe and the United States, because it serves as the headquarters of both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Brussels also is of special importance for the Europeans and Americans from a historical point of view, particularly since the World War I and World War II happened in this part of Europe.

“It is in this part of the world the US troops launched one of their biggest battles during the World War II on one of the territories in Belgium, the famous battle of Belje.

“In spite of the brutality and the atrocity of the terrorist operations in Brussels carried out by some Arab Muslims living in an European environment, it is needless to say the reactions and the statements that have been issued in the wake of these operations are exaggerations and have been blown out of proportion the strength of the terrorists.

“Not just that, it looks like the terrorist operation gave an opportunity for some candidates who are vying to represent their respective parties in the US presidential elections to wage a campaign against the Muslims.

“Take for example, Ted Cruz, who has called for stationing permanent police patrols in the Muslims areas of the United States, while his rival, the Republican prospective candidate Donald Trump has called for preventing Muslims from entering the United States of America.

“Not just that, Trump has pledged that he will put more pressure on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by stopping the purchase of oil unless the Kingdom sends troops to fight the Islamic State (IS) organization or the so-called DAESH.

“Given the above, the media that has covered the Brussels bombings has seemingly kept the people under the impression that the entire world is on the verge of an overwhelming defeat by DAESH.

“Such being the case, we found a celebrated writer Simon Jenkins writing in the British Guardian March 24, 2016 edition highlighted the most dangerous aspect of the Brussels aggressive operations.

“Hence, we found the writer criticizing the statements issued by the French President Francois Hollande and the British Prime Minister David Cameron over the Brussels bombings.

“Not just that, Jenkins was sarcastic of US President Barack Obama when the latter cut short his recent visit to Cuba in solidarity with Belgium and the same goes for what has been said by Trump that ‘Belgium and France are currently on their way being torn apart.

“Meanwhile, he has called on the concerned people to stop making hysterical statements saying to confront terrorists we should neither revise the current laws nor limit the freedom of Muslims or persecute them.”

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Al-Humoud

“It has now become obvious for everybody that the talk of fighting terrorism will not become a reality in the absence of significant intellectual and cultural efforts at universal level to keep abreast with the required security efforts,” columnist Abdurrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.

“However, the brutal terrorist acts which are currently taking place throughout the world, confirm the need to declare a state of full alert and that any further delay in handling terrorism will result in the entire world paying an exorbitant price.

“In this context, we look at the criminal terrorist operation that happened in Lahore, Pakistan and this means all of us must hasten to protect our new generation in Islamic countries from the thoughts of extremism and violence.

“The terrorist operation that claimed the lives of more than seventy people including twenty-nine children and more than 300 injured was actually carried out at a park frequented by visitors who are mostly children and families.

“In this context, we say the park was filled with a lot of people who had come to celebrate the Christian religious occasion, the Easter Sunday, and this dastardly act reflects an exorbitant defect which is currently ingrained in the mentalities of many Muslim youths who are exposed to ‘brainwashing’ to convince them that their involvement in killing others shall make them entitled for the ‘keys to heaven’.

“Not just that, through brainwashing, these youths are persuaded to kill others in the belief it shall help them serve both their religion and nation simultaneously, but certainly this type of teaching is baseless, malicious and devilish in nature.

“Consequently, we suggest that the Muslim clerics should hasten to correct the relevant thought in our youths to rescue the entire nation from a prospective dark future.

“The Muslim clerics must make an initiative in this connection and rescue humanity at large from the prospective horrible quagmire unless all people on our planet hasten to do something to prevent the occurrence of such man made calamities.”

“The Court of Cassation issued a wonderful and excellent ruling recently, as it has granted the judiciary the right to decide on cases pertaining to the withdrawal of citizenship as per the decision of the government. We have been missing this kind of ruling for the past 50 years,” columnist Dr Adel Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“In the past 50 years, the government has been arguing that any decision it takes concerning the withdrawal of citizenship is considered a matter of sovereignty and the judiciary has no authority over it.

“This led to many instances where the government refrained from presenting evidence to support its decision to withdraw citizenship in the past. But all these have changed so the decisions taken by the government in this regard will now be presented to the judiciary which has the final say on the issue.

“The judiciary is the only place where disputes are resolved legally regardless of the parties involved. It is irrational to take decisions if the judiciary has no final say, just like how it was in the past in matters pertaining to withdrawal of citizenship.”

“The ongoing debate concerning the Parliament could be considered reformative, especially if the ‘poles’ of the argument are outstanding parliamentary figures who participated in forming the Kuwaiti parliamentary life when it was first launched in 1963,” columnist Yousuf Heji wrote for Annahar daily.

“Undoubtedly, differences in the points of view on participating in the next parliamentary elections and boycotting it makes a wonderful base of understanding for the opposing parties. This is glaring when the opposing views are represented by Dr Ahmad Al-Khateeb and Ahmad Al-Sadoun due to their rich parliamentary history.

“When we talk about the history of Al-Khateeb, we need large volumes of books and that holds true with Al-Sadoun. Both of them established their legislative histories through decades of fighting against corruption and confronting any attack on the Constitution of Kuwait.

“It is then unacceptable to see some young politicians hurling false accusations at these two parliamentary and political figures, in addition to insulting them by issuing irresponsible statements.

“Although Al-Khateeb called for participating in the next elections while Al-Sadoun contradicted him as the latter called for boycotting, both men have respectable views which come from their long political experience and loyalty to Kuwait, nothing else.”

“The arrest of three Police Academy students in Salmiya for the consumption and possession of drugs as well as a firefighting student for driving recklessly makes us wonder what goes on in military institutions which are supposed to ‘mold’ men,” columnist Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“The problem is the fact that what has been uncovered is far less worrisome than those remain hidden. These are just the cases made known through the local press. Definitely, such social problems are common in most societies and part of daily disturbances in most families but the objection here is on the committees tasked to choose the best young men to join military, police and firefighting institutions.

“These committees are authorized to check the applications and conduct personal interviews. We know that only a 10th of the applicants are admitted to the aforementioned institutions so the committees failed when they accepted those who consume drugs and reckless drivers while an officer who is on the verge of being promoted to the rank of major was found to be holding fake citizenship. I think it is time to change the mechanism for choosing students in military institutions, otherwise, the whole authority will become weak.”

– Compiled by Zaki Taleb