Toronto murder: Sharia, Exhibit 1

By all accounts, 16 year-old Aqsa Parvez of the Toronto suburb of Mississauga was a normal teenager – a girl with a zest for life and having all of the hopes and dreams for a bright future in a country that has so much to offer. Today, she lies dead in a Toronto morgue, the victim of a brutal strangulation. Her death was neither quick nor painless – no strangulations are.

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In this case, however, young Aqsa Parvez lived for a number of long, agonizing hours, lying in hospital desperately clinging to life before her struggle ended and she slipped away. The two men closest to her in her tragically short life – her father, in whose arms she should have been able to seek love, comfort, and understanding, and her older brother, someone she should have been able to rely upon for protective guidance and refuge in her transition into a young woman, instead betrayed her in the most hideous of ways. Her father, Muhammad PARVEZ, has been charged with her murder and her 26 year-old brother, ”Muhammad” Waqas PARVEZ, was charged with obstructing the police investigation of her murder. Aqsa Parvez’s only crime: she resisted wearing a hijab, or an Islamic head scarf. Like most young girls her age, Aqsa Parvez loved clothes, and loved to wear western clothing. She was beautiful, but she was also beautifully modest by Western standards in terms of her attire. She “just wanted to fit in,” according to her friends. To her father, a “traditional Muslim” from Pakistan currently employed as a driver for Blue and White Taxi, however, his daughter was an apostate under Islam. His reign of familial oppression was so great that Aqsa would leave home wearing a hijab and loose-fitting clothes, but would take off her head scarf and change into more fashionable clothes at school. Her fear of her father and the threat of his enforcement of Sharia law was so intense that she would then change back before going home at the end of the day. It was shortly before 8:00 Monday morning when 9-1-1 received a call from "a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter," stated a source within the Peel Police Department. When emergency services arrived at the family’s residence on Longhorn Trail in Mississauga, they found 16 year-old Aqsa PARVEZ barely clinging to life. As she was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, her father looked on. She ultimately lost her battle for life. Today, her father will be brought before a Brampton Court at which time he will be formally charged with her murder. Her brother will also answer to the charges of obstructing a police investigation. It is doubtful that her tragic death will receive the media attention it deserves. She was not Anna Nicole Smith or some other darling of the media, and did not die at the hands of a stranger or in a mass shooting. She was simply a bright, energetic and strong willed young girl with dreams and desires that were clearly and absolutely incompatible with those of her family’s religion.. For having such desires and for betraying Islam, her father allegedly dispensed Islamic justice under Sharia law. Assuredly, many Muslims and non-Muslims alike will argue that the alleged murderous actions of the girl’s father and the alleged complicity of the victim’s brother are a perversion of an otherwise tolerant and peaceful religion. Islam, in any manner in which it is described, is not only a religion hijacked, but a religion victimized by biased media coverage, we will be admonished. Meanwhile, more murders will be committed in the name of Islam, and more human rights violations will occur absent of any meaningful objection by those who describe themselves as “moderate” Muslims. Surely, the death of Aqsa Parvez will be lost among the headlines of the forthcoming days, but her death must not be in vain. In open and free societies like Canada and the United States, much can and must be done to protect the most precious among us – our children. It appears that the checks and balances that are in place in our schools and through our laws failed Aqsa. Her friends knew that she was terrified of the punishment that awaited her at home should she be caught unclad in Islamic attire outside of her home. Sensible reasoning should conclude that it was likely that her teachers, guidance counselor, or any number of other school officials knew or should have known of her abnormal fears. Perhaps they were, but considered it a family or religious matter off limits to their oversight responsibilities, despite the fear Aqsa exhibited. After all, we are not to meddle in a family’s right to practice their own religion – in this case Islam; doing so will undoubtedly bring civil rights complaints and lawsuits by way of organizations like the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and CAIR-Canada. What can be done to insure that the death of Aqsa Parvez was not in vain? We must act to protect our children despite our fears of lawsuits, and we must hold “Moderate” Muslims and the groups that purportedly represent them accountable for every day they remain silent and fail to address the excesses of Sharia law. Aqsa Parvez was intimidated, bullied and finally murdered because she challenged the medieval constraints of Sharia law and the Qur’anic doctrine. We must have the will and fortitude to place the blame where blame belongs, and must refuse to be bullied into submission. She is the ultimate victim, not Islam, and can no longer speak for herself. Therefore, it is up to us to speak on her behalf.