Canadian terror arrests: More terror raids, more suspects, more questions

Can’t we all just get along?

Two terrorism-related raids – one in Canada and another in Britain – have Muslim communities on edge, oscillating between the need to condemn acts of terror in the name of Islam (a bit more forcefully, this time, please) and fending off pressure amid signs of a mounting backlash. The Canadian arrests resulted from a lengthy monitoring of the suspects and came with accusations – all denied – of acquiring three times the ammonium nitrate used in the Oklahoma City bombing and attempting to capture Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and behead him Zarqawi-style if Canadian troops weren’t pulled out of Afghanistan. Muslim communities in Canada have generally cooperated with the RCMP, keeping in mind the comparatively nice treatment (Maher Arar notwithstanding) of minority Muslim populations. “Like all other Canadians,” said Muslim Council of Montreal President Salam Elmenyawi, “the Muslim community is certainly concerned about issues of security.” The same can’t be said of Britain, where a nearly simultaneous (but not related) raid didn’t go so well. One suspect was shot during an operation that was seeking a chemical device, which has yet to be found. “I understand that they have intelligence and have to act on it,” said neighbor Farhana Pandor, “but it is the way the police have gone about it that makes me angry.” Combined with the aftermath of the London bombings (and a greater proportion of hard-line Muslims than in the US or Canada), the raid has brought about calls to end Muslim cooperation with the police, which is mainly handled through the UK’s major Muslim organizations. Profiles of the accused follow similar patterns to groups in the US (the Virginia “Paintball” group) and the UK (the London bombers): socially and culturally alienated Muslim youth – some of whom are only teenagers – mixed in with older participants who may be more well-adjusted but who adhere to more extreme forms of Islam. Caught between native and immigrant cultures, feeling increasingly frustrated at Western military involvement in Muslim lands, and driven by a black-and-white view regarding Islam’s relationship with the West, these tight-knit groups come to a conclusion that violence – whether here or abroad – is the only way out. Whether or not the accused are actually guilty of these alleged crimes is for the courts to decide. Investigations need to be thorough and transparent, and Muslim communities should offer their full cooperation. Similar efforts, however, must also happen within the Muslim community to decide how to respond to pockets of extremism that may, given certain circumstances, metastasize into something worse than words. “This is a wake-up call, especially for Muslim leaders,” said Sheikh Husain Patel, an imam at the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. “They were young kids, and they were taken down this road by someone.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.