New Zealand Muslims Want to Be Taken Seriously

New Zealand Muslims want to be taken seriously following the mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch which left about 50 dead. Anjum Rahman, a spokesperson of the Islamic Women's Council said they have made the government aware about their fears around something like this incident. "We need to be heard on this. We need to be taken seriously and we want firm action taken." Rahman said the council has been engaging with both the previous and current government for several years, asking for their support."We hear so much about immigration policy and who's coming into this country and so much of that is targeted against our community and we know that our community is discriminated against because of fears of terrorism." Rahman questions why was 'the person' not monitored. She thinks the government needs to engage with the community and inform them about what its going to do .

Aliya Danzeisen, another Muslim community leader said the Christchurch incident does not represent what New Zealand is about. She said the people of New Zealand as a whole have been overwhelmingly welcoming and helpful and supportive. "We realize this is an incidence of people who are not stable."

Meanwhile, Paul Buchanan, the security expert and 36^th Parallel Assessments director, said police have made multiple arrests. He said the main suspect had claimed on social media that there were up to 10 people helping him. "And given what I saw in the extremist channels that he frequented there were certainly a lot of people cheering him on so the investigation is far from done."

Buchanan said it is clear that tactical planning was involved.