WHERE WAS THE MUSLIM OUTCRY OVER BOMBINGS? FATHER ASKS

- The father of New Zealander Shelley Mather who was killed in the Islamic militant bombings in London last year has hit out at the Muslim outcry over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.
Auckland barrister John Mather said that Muslims were being far too ``precious'' over what was simply ``ink sketchings on paper''.Ms Mather was killed by a terrorist bomb at Russell Square as she travelled the Picadilly line in July last year.Yesterday her father spoke of his bemusement at the worldwide outrage over the cartoons of the prophet appearing in a Danish newspaper.``If anybody has reason to feel aggrieved, it is Shelley's extended family,'' Mr Mather said.He said that apart from a couple of e-mails from Muslims overseas he had received no apology over Shelley's murder and ``wasn't invited to Muslim Awareness week''.And with the exception of some Canadian mullahs, he had never seen an unequivocal renunciation of what was done.It was particularly distressing for him that the people who committed the murders in London had been given sanctuary in England and were provided with opportunities not otherwise available to them.``I understand that one of the bombers is now in a tomb in Pakistan with an armed guard and treated as a martyr.``I find that to be a bit of a contradiction and an endorsement of murdering innocent people and an acceptable way of carrying on.``The bottom line is they were just killers, either misguided or purposely misdirected by someone but it doesn't alter the fact as to what they were.''Mr Mather, who described himself and Shelley's family as liberals, said it was impossible to reconcile the feeble response from the Islamic world to the London killings with the worldwide rallies by irate Muslims protesting over the Danish cartoons.``I have a little bit of difficulty in marrying up the reaction to these murders and the outcry now about ink on paper -- it is simply because of some ink sketchings on paper. I think there is a world of difference between the two.''While there were no doubt millions of Muslim adherents who led a peaceful life, there were many others who were giving Islam a ``bad press''.He cited terrorism, theocratic tyranny, subjugation of women, intolerance of criticism, persecution of moderate Muslims and fear of Western culture.Mr Mather said that tolerance and accommodation were not things that arose out of threats of violence.``There has been a certain view that it was irresponsible to publish the cartoons because of the violent reaction and that we should be more tolerant and considerate society. But we are. That cuts both ways and it is not appropriate to be silent because of threats.''Mr Mather said that the mass rallies by Muslims demonstrated a value system that was ``archaic''.``If your first response is to kill people or behead them, there is no room for that in this day and age and certainly no room for it in our society and no room for making decisions based on fear of that. . .``We've been very dignified in the way we've responded to our loss; I can't help but contrast that with the yelling and screaming that we see.''