When Jeremy Christian hurls abuse at two dark-skinned women and stabs Ricky John Best, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Micah David-Cole Fletcher, when English-born suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonates a backpack bomb during a concert by pop singer Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena – leaving 22 people dead and more than 100 wounded – when suicide attacker strikes Kabul with a massive truck bomb leaving more than 500 dead and wounded, and when gunmen attack Iran’s parliament the global conscience will be outraged. The four gory incidents occurred in four different countries killing people from various race, color and creed, but no matter where and on which grounds the blood of mankind is spilt, one’s conscience will be shaken and senses will go numb.
Terrorism has been changed into a global threat and warring factions seek to cultivate their fundamental ideology in the hearts and minds of vulnerable groups in any corner of the world. The self-styled Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – which claimed responsibility for the Manchester attack and called Abedi “a soldier of the caliphate” – has extended the realm of its influence globally overnight despite losing ground in Iraq and Syria recently. This group has intensified their attacks and massacred a large number of people, including women and children, in different parts of the world in the holy month of Ramadan. In this month, war is considered forbidden. However, the groups that claim to fight for religion shed streams of blood and compound violence in this month. It is self-explanatory that the militants carry out deadly attacks under the mask of religion without having the basic knowledge about religious tenets. There are two main reasons behind painting their mentality with the brush of religion. First, they tend to prey upon the vulnerable groups. There are a number of youths who easily fall for the militants venomous preach for growing up in racial and radical backgrounds. For instance, those who are born in harsh and tribal structure will succumb to militants’ rhetoric. Second, terrorist networks aim to legitimize their acts of terror in a veil of religious secrecy. Otherwise, they will have no means of justification for their followers and fail to recruit fighters. In brief, faith and religion have been exploited throughout the history by kings and religious institutions and this trend continues by warring factions in our time.
The May 31 terrorist attack in Kabul has been strongly condemned by Afghan religious scholars and said to be against religious sharia. Subsequently, the militants attacked Shaura-e-Okhowat Islami (Islamic Brotherhood Council) in which civilians, including clerics, were killed and wounded on June 06. Hence, the militants seek to impose their warped mind at gunpoint and opposing their mindsets will be followed by death.
The flagrant violation of human rights and liberty is highly outrageous. It is globally accepted that people are born free with natural, inalienable and inviolable rights. In other words, Afghanistan’s Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) assert that all people should be able to exercise their rights without barrier and “freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.”
The recent bloodshed by terrorist groups, mainly ISIL, will fill one with a strong sense of fear and hatred. According to the United Nations, ISIL fighters have killed more than 160 people in one day last week to prevent them from fleeing western Mosul. “The brutality of Daesh [ISIL] and other terrorist groups seemingly knows no bounds,” Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN’s human rights chief, is cited as saying.
Currently, a large number of people are suffering amidst violence and bloodshed throughout the region and threatened around the globe by terrorist networks. No mercy is shown to women and children, who are highly susceptible to militancy. In 21st century, terrorism is a great challenge before human societies.
Now the world will have to prevent from the streams of blood being shed in every nook and cranny. The terrorists’ widespread and indiscriminate attacks on Muslims, non-Muslims, men, women and children of any race and ethnicity reveal their barbarity and desire for killing.

At the international peace conference in Kabul on Tuesday – when a number of Afghans were killed and wounded in Herat province – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani once again called warring parties to stop violence and come to negotiating table. “We are offering a chance for peace but this is not an open-ended offer. Time is running out... this is the last chance, take it or face consequences”. He added, “If Taliban wants to join peace talks, the Afghan government will allow them to open an office, but this is their last chance”. Afghan officials have constantly called the Taliban to hold peace talks, but this offer was denied up to now. To mitigate the escalated insurgency, the world will have to form a strong coalition force, including eastern and western countries, or else the sufferings of human societies will continue.