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Syrian Refugee Crisis: Who is to be Blamed
9-09-2015
Past week we woke up to a terrible news and even more terrifying image of a young Syrian refugee child’s body washed ashore one of Turkey’s beach. The twitter hashtag #HumanityWashedAshore started trending worldwide, along with #Syria, #Syrian, #SyrianRefugees.
Surely, the image of this child struck deeply each and every one’s conscious. Every parent, must have, for one moment imagined their own little child in this this baby, Aylan Kurdi and gasped, some even losing breath.
Thus our immediate reaction – overflowing emotions – got the best of us and we directed our individual and collective anger at those stopping these helpless refugees entering their respective countries. People lashed out at government ministers, across Europe, and here in Canada, everyone, from the ruling Prime Minister, Harper, to every Conservative candidates, especially incumbents was being forced to stick handle this question, whether they had any knowledge of it or not.
The worst was yet to come for the Harper’s Conservative when Canadians woke up to the news that that child whose body had washed up, had in fact tried, or at least his aunt, who lives in Coquitlam, BC, make an attempt to bring them to Canada. Despite all efforts, this child’s family was not allowed into Canada, and now he’s dead!
The Canadians were suddenly once again thrown onto an emotional rollercoaster of extreme guilt and absolute dismay, which once again PM Harper and his Conservative candidates got the worst end of the stick, and for an entire day, Canadians kept on hitting them with the stick.
It was not until later in the evening, 6 o’clock news that Canadians learned that there was an error made by an NDP Incumbent MP, who had mistakenly gotten the two brother’s families mixed up. Nonetheless, the damage was done. Canada’s reputation in international community was damaged.
Meanwhile, not only Canadians but citizens of western European nations continue to pressure their governments to welcome more refugees.
We must commend the citizens of western countries in comparison to Muslim nations for having such emotionally filled and motivated reaction, which the best culminated results can be seen in Germany which is committing to welcoming 800,000 Syrian refugees.
It could be best described by one post on Facebook by a German citizen, “We will tell our children, we welcomed Syrian Refugees, even though, Makkah and other Muslim nations were closer to them.” That is the gist of our editorial this week.
Why are we expecting western nations to welcome and take care of the refugees, when most Muslim nations, except Turkey, has shut their doors on them? In fact Saudi Arabia made it illegal for Saudi citizens to adopt Orphan Syrian children.
There is of course a counter argument that this mess is orchestrated by the west by interfering in Muslim nations politics, and doing little or nothing to stop Syria’s Basher al Assad’s Regime from running amok, thus consequently, responsible for bearing the cost of accommodating and caring for these refugees.
It is pointless, who is responsible for starting this mess, and who’s responsible for cleaning up the mess, etc. the fact of the matter is, Muslims Syrian refugees are suffering and we have a Muslim nations, especially Rich Muslim nations have a moral obligation to assist them, by whatever means.
Aylan Kurdi’s untimely and needless death brought the issue out in the open. However, over the past four years countless Syrian refugees, mostly vulnerable, children, elderly, women, have met such fate. May be not as graphic as Aylan, but nonetheless, they have, and their unnecessary deaths rests on humanity’s conscious to be reckon with.
Undoubtedly, Canadian government has to bear some responsibility, but it would be unfair to lump it all on them. There is a problem, and yes they are part of the problem, in an entire equation, which needs to be solved, and solved by all nations, including Muslim Nations. Why are the Muslim nations getting away from sharing this important responsibility? Why the Muslim nations are not coming forward to offer assistance? Why Saudi Arabia has banned adoption of Syrian orphans by Saudi Citizens? When will the collective wealth of the Muslim nations be made available to be used to benefit Muslims?
It is very simple and easy to point fingers at others. It’s the easiest thing to do and it does not cost anything. Oh the western governments are responsible for this mess. Its western governments mess and let them clean up. Its Harper Government and his Ministers. May be yes and may be no. Has anyone even tried to understand the complexity of bringing in the Syrian refugees into Canada from the government’s perspective? Has anyone tried to understand what role the Muslim countries have played in this crises to escalate to such a situation where it is completely out of control? Has anyone tried to understand or evaluate the cost associated with resettling refugees? These and many other such questions need to be raised and discussed and we need to do it collectively, no one else is going to do it for us.
The fact of the matter is, “Charity begins at home.” How can we remain silent on utter disregard shown by the Muslim nations and its leaders, with of course one exception, Turkey, in regards to the Syrian refugee crises, yet criticize western leadership, including Canadian government. In all fairness, we need to weigh in all the facts and consider all aspects of this debate before finger pointing at others.
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