Canadians enjoy freedom of expression and that helps them offer and weigh differing viewpoints. An example is the recent incident at a Remembrance Day site in Toronto. A Toronto Sun article, written by a Canadian Muslim Congress leader, said: “Canada will burn (,) praise Allah. Five words defacing a Toronto War Memorial on Remembrance Day, sent shock waves through the country.” Tarek Fateh wrote that only the Muslim Canadian Congress denounced the act. This is not true. CAIR-Canada, the advocacy group for Canadian Muslims, strongly condemned it, as did some other organizations. Fateh also wrote that hijab-clad Suraia Sahara shouted slogans against Canadian armed forces and disrupted the Moment of Silence. He added that she and another Muslim student, Laila Rashidie, condemned Canadian troops for killing Taliban. He wrote that Sahara “unveiled her racist hatred when she described the senior citizens who had come to remember their war dead as a ‘mob of old white men'.” Canadian Muslim Congress's president also issued a statement condemning “Canada's Islamic establishment” for “their silence over the hatred against Canada.” The statement stated that “the silence of Canada's mullahs is as disturbing as the two women who used profanities to insult the brave men and women who died for freedom and democracy.” All Canadians respect the soldiers who died in the two world wars to defend freedom. But CAIR-Canada and other Muslim organizations had condemned the disruption. So why repeat the lie? In the past too, Muslim organizations were falsely accused of keeping quiet against terrorism. And why the derogatory reference to the “Islamic establishment” and Canadian “mullahs”? I helped build a mosque in Ottawa and served in Muslim organizations. In addition to arranging prayers, they welcome neighbors, college and school students, hold friendly dialogues with leaders of other faiths, provide food and supplies to needy Muslims and non-Muslims, help newcomers, widows, students and the poor and encourage Muslims to serve Canada wholeheartedly. The Ottawa Muslim Association recently arranged clinics for Muslims to donate blood for other Canadians. True, there are bad apples among Muslims, as there are in other communities, but why keep maligning most Muslims and falsely accusing their organizations? Then Sahara and Rashidie presented their version in an e-mail that also showed them dressed as average young Canadian girls. Neither wore the hijab. They called the reports false. They said that they are peace activists and that no Islamists attended the ceremony. The four groups present were: Aboriginals asking for their legitimate rights, an anti-Fascist group, one supporting peace and Afghan peace activists denouncing military operations in their country. “We did not plan or cause any disruption to the Moment of Silence... Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the Toronto Sun and its Sun News Network has misrepresented us,” they wrote. They stated that they are not Jihadists or Islamists but peace activists denouncing the war in Afghanistan. They stated that the Toronto Sun article falsely claimed that Laila produced a vulgar poster condemning Canadian troops. They explained that the anti-fascist group shouted slogans after the police confronted them and confiscated their banner. The police then seized the Afghan banner and it was then that they shouted to the police to return their banner. Instead, the police asked them to leave, which they did. They said that some people in the crowd yelled “go back to your country,” “kill more Afghans,” and “we don't care about Afghans.” As to why they demonstrated at the function, they explained: “The war in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians, and further escalated violence in an already war-torn nation. This war has created a platform where foreign military forces perform terrifying acts against the civilian population. We do not support the NATO-led occupation and war in Afghanistan. We also do not support the increasing militarization of our Canadian generation.” The Canadian Afghan girls wrote that they have received mostly comments of support and some criticism from Canadians and Americans. Polls show that while immediately after 9/11 most Canadians supported the war in Afghanistan, now a majority opposes it and feels that Canada's sacrifices have not been worthwhile. Canada and Afghanistan have no reason to fight. But Osama Bin Laden lived in Afghanistan and planned the 9/11 attacks because American policies have been harming and in some cases killing Muslims. In retaliation the US attacked Afghanistan and asked its NATO allies to help. Canada had refused to join the US in attacking Iraq but felt compelled by its treaty obligations to join the US in its Afghan war. Whatever one's views on the Afghan war may be, peaceful demonstrations against war are not considered a crime in Canada. Except perhaps by some Islamophobes in the media and elsewhere.
– Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and the Queen's Diamond and Golden Jubilee medals for his work as a journalist, work for Ottawa's Muslims and efforts to promote better understanding between Canadians of different faiths
