Bondi Beach terror

False claims linking Sydney attack to Pakistan expose deliberate slur campaign rooted in hate politics

The two gunmen who opened fire at Sydney's Bondi Beach were of Indian origin. The disinformation campaign circulating on social media to portray the act as one carried by a Pakistani, given the attackers' names, is a farce and an unsubstantiated claim. Though the Australian police have not yet revealed the identity of the accused, an official press note from Telangana Police, a southern state in India, has confirmed that Sajid Akram hails from Hyderabad, India, and migrated to Australia in 1998. Whereas the other accused, Sajid’s son Naveed Akram, was born in Australia. The attack at a Jewish celebration event, widely dubbed as anti-Semitic, killed 15 people. The heroic part of the incident was an act of bravado by one Ahmed Al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner, who tried to overpower one of the attackers and was critically hurt.

The terrorist act has once again flagged the Hindutva mindset, and its extraterritorial terror tactics through which it wants to extend its hegemonic and radical designs. Despite having had some distance from it, the terror-infected mentality refuses to change. The US and Canada, too, have witnessed killings conducted by extremist ideology that goes beyond religious interpretations, embroiling them in hate-fueled politics. Reports say one of the accused held a firearms licence since 2015 and had six licensed weapons. The Australian government must take responsibility for their lax gun laws. Secondly, there needs to be accountability for propagating perceptions that breed otherness at home and abroad.

Naveed, 24, who is critically injured and is being treated, must live to tell the tale of his origin and the hate politics that people like him come to cultivate. The police must also come to the rescue of a Pakistani national who is being slandered and threatened for his name. It is, however, a good sign that social media has exposed the falsity of nefarious claims backing the slur campaign against the Pakistani national.