Nine Indians were among 50 people killed and many others injured when a "right-wing extremist" armed with semi-automatic weapons rampaged through Al Noor Mosque in central Christchurch and the Linwood Mosque in the city's outer suburb, in what appeared to be the worst attack on Muslims in a developed country.
Among the Indians killed are five from Gujarat, two from Telangana, one from Andhra and a woman from Kerala. The killed are Maheboob Khokhar from Ahmedabad, Asif Vora and Ramiz Vora from Vadodara, Hafiz Muza Wali Patel from Bharuch, Junaid Kara from Navsari, Farhaj Ahsan, a technology professional, and Mohammed Imran Khan, restaurateur from Telangana, Ozair Kadir from Andhra and Ansi Alibava from Kerala.
Khokhar, a retired GEB employee, had gone to New Zealand two months ago with his wife, Akhtar Begum, to meet his son, Imran, who lives in the Phillipstown suburb of Christchurch. Arif Vohra and his son Rameez Vohra from Vadodara were initially reported missing but later declared dead. Arif’s elder son Rahil, who lives in Australia, rushed to Christchurch and later confirmed that Arif and Rameez had died in the attack. Another victim of the terror attack was Hafiz Musa Vali Patel (52), a native of Luvara village of Bharuch district. He succumbed to his injuries in hospital after 20 hours of treatment.
Gujarat govt offers help
When Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani came to know about the massacre in New Zealand, he immediately put his officials on duty to assist the relatives of Gujarati victims. He asked the state home department additional chief secretary A M Tiwari to immediately contact the Indian High Commissioner in New Zealand Sanjeev Kohli to contact Gujarati families in New Zealand to find the status of the victims. The general administration department head Sanjeetha Singh contacted external affairs ministry for making arrangements for the early departure of relatives to New Zealand.
Main suspect charged with murder
The main suspect Brenton Harrison Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian citizen, was charged with one count of murder, a day after the attacks, prompting the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to vow reform in the country's gun laws. Tarrant appeared in the Christchurch District Court and was remanded without a plea until his next scheduled appearance in the South Island city's High Court on April 5. Handcuffed and wearing a white prison suit, Tarrant did not speak. His court-appointed lawyer made no application for bail or name suppression. He was likely to face further charges, police said.
PM Jacinda Ardern terms it terrorism
The attack, which PM Ardern labelled as terrorism, was the worst-ever peacetime mass killing in New Zealand and the country raised its security threat level to the highest. Tarrant has been identified as a suspected white supremacist, based on his social media activity. Footage of the attack on one of the mosques was broadcast live on Facebook, and a “manifesto” denouncing immigrants as “invaders” was also posted online via links to related social media accounts.
The video showed a man driving to the Al Noor mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people with a semi-automatic rifle with high-capacity magazines. Worshippers, possibly dead or wounded, lay on the floor, the video showed. At one stage, the shooter returns to his car, changes weapons, re-enters the mosque and again began shooting. The camera attached to his head follows the barrel of his weapon like some macabre video game.
Forty-one people were killed at Al Noor mosque, seven at a mosque in the Linwood neighbourhood and two died in hospital, police said. Hospital officials said some of the wounded were in a critical condition. Police said the shooter took seven minutes to travel to the second mosque in the suburb of Linwood, where seven people were killed. No images have emerged from the second mosque. Tarrant was arrested in a car which, police said, was carrying improvised explosive devices.
Two other people were in custody and police said they were working to understand their involvement. None of those arrested had a criminal history or were on watch lists in New Zealand or Australia.
Gun laws to be changed
PM Ardern said the main suspect was a licenced gun owner, who used five weapons during his rampage, including two semi-automatic weapons and two shotguns. The authorities were working to find out how he had obtained the weapons and a licence, and how he was able to enter the country to carry out the attacks, she said. There was heavy police presence at the hospital where the families of the more than 40 wounded had gathered. Eleven people remained in intensive care, hospital authorities said.
Leaders around the world expressed sorrow and disgust at the attacks, with some deploring the demonisation of Muslims.
Modi condemns attack
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said hatred and violence have no place in diverse and democratic societies. In a letter to his New Zealand counterpart, Modi also expressed India’s strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and of all those who support such acts of violence, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release. US President Donald Trump among other world leaders who condemned the attack. Trump, who condemned the attacks as a “horrible massacre”, was praised by the accused gunman in a manifesto posted online as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”
Concern over targeting of Muslims
Political and Islamic leaders across Asia and Middle East voiced concern over the targeting of Muslims. A website set up for victims had raised more than NZ$1 million ($684,000) in less than a day, and social media was flooded with messages of shock, sympathy and solidarity. .
India's High Commission in New Zealand said that any Indian national affected by the attacks can contact the mission for assistance. Approximately 200,000 Indian and Indian-origin people live in New Zealand. There are over 30,000 Indian students in the country, according to the Indian High Commission's data on its website.
