Pakistan

Iran Diplomat Kidnapped in Pakistan

An Iranian diplomat was kidnapped and his driver killed by Pakistani gunmen in the northwestern city of Peshawar. This incident happened a day after an American aid worker and his driver were shot dead while traveling through the suburbs of Peshawar. Two months ago, a similar incident occurred; unknown Pakistani gunmen kidnapped Afghan consul-general, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, after killing his driver. Farahi is still missing. In recent months violence has surged in northwest Pakistan with a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist militants. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman condemned the kidnapping as a “terrorist attack."

This incident in Pakistan is an illustration of the different identity perceptions of the attackers and what these attacks really mean. The Pakistani gunmen, claimed to be Islamist militants, are attacking, killing, and kidnapping these people because they believe it is right. They identify themselves as “martyrs” rather than “terrorists.” This is precisely what happened with the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Radical Islamists believed their acts were worthy and accepted and for the well being of their people, but we saw it as irrational terrorist attacks on our freedom. These differences in identity of what Islamist militants believe they are and what the rest of the world believes they are certainly causes controversy. While we think that they conducted a horrible crime, they see nothing wrong in what they did. Their values are much different than ours in the sense that they seem to have no remorse for their actions because they believe what they did was right. This type of identity disparity is prevalent throughout the world; and they fact that most people are intolerant of other identities only adds to the mess.

Identity

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/11/2008111341723722500.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7726107.stm

November 13, 2008 at 7:54 pm