Norwegian bombing:How Islamophobic fever among western media and anti-

At 3.30 p.m on Friday, the 22 July 2011, a hefty explosion ripped through the centre of Oslo, the capital of Norway, causing heavy material damage, dozens of injured and 7 people died. The bomb caused heavy destruction to the offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and a number of other official buildings. Neighboring offices - including those housing some of Norway's leading newspapers and news agency NTB were hit and evacuated. Oil ministry was also among the other government buildings hit, while the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG were also damaged.


From TV pictures, one can see the extensive damage in the shape of rubble. Glass from shattered windows littered the streets and smoke from the fires drifting across the city could be seen from the devastated government quarter. One must condemn such cowardly and brutal carnage as strongly as possible. There should be no buts and ifs on the issue violence and terror.


Soon after the first news flash on Danish TV 2, I zapped at least 5 TV Channels - Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, BBC World and CNN, to see, what was being discussed and how anti-terror experts and media pundits were analyzing the situation and who was being signaled out or even blamed for this hideous crime. They even announced that there were many signs pointing to Islamist terror.


I was not surprised, how quickly; all commentators started pointing the finger towards “Islamic terrorists, Al-Qaeeda, Jihadi movements and even converted Islamists”. This serious charge and inflammatory connotation was dished out to public, even if no one had taken responsibility, no arrests took place, no investigation was launched and none of the persons wounded or otherwise even mentioned any thing remotely close to what media and anti-terror experts were irresponsibly launching.

For example, the Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp said to News Agency Ritzau among other things that he thought it could be Al Qaida's work. His position changed when the shooting accrued but his inner intentions came to light when he told news agency T T: “ Had it just been a bombing, it would be natural to connect it to Islamic terror. Now we have also seen an attack against the Labor Party's youth, and it changes the whole picture”.


This tone and undocumented finger pointing towards “Islamic terrorists” however changed a bit after a short while, when a young blond Norwegian man was arrested after he shot and killed 10 young political activists from the ruling Labor Party’s youth wing, who were gathered on the close by Island of Utøya for a seminar.


Unfortunately, the Prime Minster of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg also went on Norwegian TV and indirectly hinted that terror attacks were the work of non-Norwegian forces. Mark his words;  “"No one will bomb us to silence, no one will shoot us to silence, no one will ever scare us from being Norway. We should never compromise on our values and democracy". He did not wait for the police or his Justice Minster to give him some sort of hint and a sound advice.

Police authorities were all along saying that it was premature to say, who can be responsible for this action. Norwegian Justice Minster Knut Storberget however issued a statement that the arrested man responsible for bombing the Oslo Centre and shooting at Utøya Island is native Norwegian. It also emerged that police were aware of the identity of the man who was under interrogation in Oslo as well as it was familiar with the environment in which he moves around. Police clearly mentioned that there was no question of international terrorism.

The Norwegian intelligence agency is cooperating with the Oslo police district to investigate the matter and to interrogate the detainee during the night to clarify whether he acted on his own. Police have so far confirmed that 17 people have died in connection with the impact. Several are still missing.

I just hope that in future, the politicians, the media, the anti-terror experts would let the police do their job of gathering the evidence, collect the information, shifting through the material and finding the culprits. Guessing, supposing and finger pointing only creates panic among the citizens, throw suspicion on innocent groups and even destroy good relations between the Islamic world and the West. It is also very harmful and dangerous for ethnic and religious minorities, especially Muslim communities who live in all western societies – peacefully, in harmony and are part of the societies.

There are many progressive people in the West who wish to have pleasant relations with Muslim minorities, but such irrational, irresponsible and knee jerk behavior on the part of opinion makers in the West makes the process of integration difficult if not impossible. Media has a special duty in this respect. Journalists have a great deal of power in shaping public opinion and thus media must be extra careful when it is covering sensitive issues like terrorism and violence

Rieti - Italy