The loss of innocent lives can never be condoned. The motivations can never be justified and the acts can only be defined as inhumane. "Terror" is a word too shallow to describe these heinous acts. One would question the very humanity of those that perpetrate or support such acts? Our hearts are with the innocent victims and families of such tragedies. In the wake of the latest happenings, humanity sheds a tear and humanity is at a loss to explain why it all transpired.

It would be unjust to associate any perpetrators of such crimes to any people, nationality or faith. These people who could fathom such acts are well beyond the question of faith. One would question their humanity. Nonetheless, history and circumstances have driven them to such acts. The question would remain as to what these circumstances were and whether this could have been avoided. In this lies the most tenable solution.

Violence is not a solution. It never is. Any such moves in this direction would cause an unending cycle of destruction of lives and property, more innocents dying and more injustices being committed. The priority is to identify the root cause and exterminate the cause rather than any people.

What is a terrorist? If you were to look up The Concise Oxford Dictionary, a terrorist is: "one who favours or uses terror-inspiring methods of governing or of coercing government or community." However this meaning seems to have lost its significance of late. "Terrorism" is anything done that works against the politico-economic interests of some is termed as "terrorism" or more aptly "Islamic Terrorism". "Terrorism" is not when Palestinians are killed on a daily basis for resisting occupation of what’s left of their homeland. "Terrorism" is not when thousands are slaughtered, as happened in Bosnia and Kosovo only a few years ago. And of course "terrorism" is not when a mother watches her helpless child die a slow death because there is no food or medicine available. Not because there is a worldwide shortage, but because the world chooses to impose trade sanctions in order to punish the ruling elite. Needless to say that the elite aren’t affected in the least – they enjoy the luxuries of life while around 5000 children are dying every month. Why does the world turn a blind eye to their deaths? They don’t count? Or are these the "terrorists" that the world wants to cleanse itself of?

Selfish motives of greed, profit making and neo-colonial domination through economic, social, political and intellectual tyranny are the evident undertones behind many of these foreign policies. Like a dark-spectre, it spreads the globe and what goes around comes around… A consequence of tragic politics. I would like the policy-makers to explain to a mother of Iraq how the death of her baby is in "the interests of national security" or "in the interests of world peace"…I would like someone to justify that one death let alone the thousands dying as we watch another drama unfold.

Where are we as humanity? Can we even begin to talk of humanity? Forty thousand people die every day from hunger and starvation. Not because there is a worldwide shortage. But because the world lets it happen. Most of these are children. Is this not the "murder of innocents"? Who is out there to help them? Countries spend millions and billions of dollars developing their defence industry: fine-tuning ways of killing others. As though the atom-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki weren’t evidence enough.

We as a human race are the only species capable on annihilating itself totally together with its planet – and we seem to be proud of it! Whether it be a nuclear blast or ecological collapse due to the emission of greenhouse gases, who is committed to stopping these from happening? Who is committed to reduction of toxic emissions? Who is committed to global disarmament? Only then let us claim to be the champions of peace, justice and good. If 6% of the earth’s population consumes 48% of the available resources, how can we even begin to talk about right and wrong? Terrorism has many faces… perhaps its time that we were introduced to them all. The murder of innocents can never be condoned, the murder of the planet means the murder of the next generation of innocents or the eradication of that as a possibility.

The global threat is humanity itself. When will we gain some maturity and realise what is happening to us and to our planet? When will we realise that our diversity means our beauty and act in the interests of the collective humanity?

If we act for ourselves and for our own selfish interests, then in all surety it is bound to backfire on us….lessons that are screaming out of the tragic unfolding of recent events … When will we learn? When will we act to change the disastrous course being set for humanity by those who don’t have foresight nor vision for the future, but care only about keeping their seats of power and winning the next election?

Let us stop using slogans to just gain popularity. No matter how much we shout "Peace in the Middle-East" or "War on Terrorism"- they will not happen through war, aggression or violence… these would only sow the seeds of evil for a cyclical conflict which will take many generations to resolve. Let us act and act now.

Peace will not come without restoring justice and dealing equitably with all parties. Peace will not come so long as there is an oppressor taking away the rights of an oppressed. Terrorism will not end by using more terrorism, for indeed this is the game of the terrorists. The seeds of peace are through humanity and sharing and learning to live while giving this right to others – be they of different nations and different cultures and different ideals – no peace will exist so long as tyranny does.

Our struggle should be to make the entire world "The land of the free"…Where are the brave?