I am saddened when I see news reports stating “Islamist” militants and “Christian” militia (in the Central African Republic). It is heart-rending to see religion being tagged to hatred. Terrorists are terrorists because they have no faith or ethics.

Their scale of good and bad is distorted. Reports tagging religion to violence may create wrong impressions of certain religious groups, which may then lead to rifts in our multicultural, pluralist society.

Let us consider the killing of innocent children in Peshawar by the Taliban. Will the media continue to tag “Islamist” to this group, who murdered Muslims and non-Muslims?

Like all other extremists, they do not care who they kill as long as they continue to instil fear in people.

Today, Islam is under attack because of the actions of misguided groups such as the Taliban and the Islamic State. Tomorrow, similar misguided individuals might emerge from other religious groups.

Scholars round the world have stressed that there is no place for terror in any religion, but their voices are drowned out by sensational reports.

Faiths should not be undermined. Let us call terrorists just terrorists and refrain from assigning them any religion because we can see from their actions that they do not believe in any religion or God.