CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday paidtribute to Pakistani national Naeem Rashid, one of the martyred of theChristchurch terrorist attacks who sacrificed his life trying to stop theshooter.
Starting a special meeting of the parliament with the Muslim greeting”Assalam-o-Alaikum” (peace be upon you), PM Ardern expressed her solidaritywith the Muslims and said Naeem Rashid laid down his life to save the livesof worshippers gathered inside the mosque.
The prime minister promised that the man responsible for last week’s deadlymosque massacres would face “the full force of the law”, as she vowed neverto utter his name.
“He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety —thatis why you will never hear me mention his name,” Ardern said.
“I implore you: Speak the names of those who were lost rather than the nameof the man who took them,” she told the gathering in Wellington, four daysafter the massacre in the southern city of Christchurch.
“He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, whenI speak, be nameless,” she said.
Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, was captured by police and has been chargedwith one count of murder, but Ardern assured parliament other charges wouldfollow.
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“He will face the full force of the law in New Zealand,” she said.
Ardern has promised reforms to New Zealand gun laws which allowed Tarrantto legally purchase the weapons he used in the attack, includingsemi-automatic rifles.
And she announced a full review of how the Australian — an avowed whitesupremacist — was able to plan and carry out the attacks in New Zealandunder the radar of security services.
“The person who committed these acts was not from here. He was not raisedhere. He did not find his ideology here. But that is not to say that thosevery same views do not live here,” she said. – APP/AFP
