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Asif Haroon Raja
Terrorism is the foremost problem of the world but ironically it is yet
to be defined. What is the yardstick for defining a terrorist since ‘one
person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter’ and vice versa?
Difference between terrorism and freedom struggle has also not been
defined. No explanation has been rendered as to how come religious
extremism and terrorism have been exclusively confined to Muslim world
and non-Muslim world exempted. On what grounds Hindu and Jewish
religious extremism and terrorism been ignored? Aren’t Palestinians and
Kashmiris the biggest victims of state terrorism of India and Israel
respectively since 1947/48?
How come USA which many see as the
biggest terrorist state been excused? How come terrorism suddenly became
such a dreaded monster when America was struck and not before? Why the
liberal writers never tire writing about the horrors of 9/11 and scourge
of terrorism after 9/11 and not before? Was the world safe from the
bane of extremism and violence before 9/11? Muslims ask whether 9/11 was
more gruesome than nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why the
axe has fallen only on Muslims? These pointed questions agitate the
minds of the Muslims since the one who had vowed to eliminate terrorism
from the face of the world has a tainted past and believes in dual
standards.
Going by the theory of Newton Law which
says ‘to every action there is equal and opposite reaction’, what is so
odd if the attacked people resist and fight back? What is the rationale
for condoning the attack and condemning the defender? Even this
principle is selectively applied. When a group attacked the twin towers
in New York and Pentagon building in Washington on 9/11, the Americans
became an aggrieved party and the Muslims all over the world were put in
the category of suspects. Al-Qaeda was branded as a terrorist group and
Taliban regime in Kabul as their guardian. When the US and its western
allies attacked Afghanistan, the roles changed. The attackers were
declared as saviors and liberators, and defenders as terrorists simply
because they refused to submit and dared to stand up to the challenge.
Northern Alliance which collaborated with the invaders were befriended
and rewarded.
In case of Iraq, Saddam neither had nukes nor had
taken any offensive act against the west, yet Iraq was destroyed by
US-NATO forces on a trumped up charge of WMDs. The defenders of their
homeland were declared as undemocratic and fascists, while the invaders
projected themselves as liberators and democracy lovers. Iraqi Shias and
Kurds supporting the invaders were eulogized and Al-Qaeda supporting
resistance forces were censured and declared as terrorists. Saddam was
hounded in his homeland, arrested and hanged. His invasion of Kuwait was
too horrendous and unforgivable and invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq
were civilized acts.
Less than 3000 people died in the two US
cities on 9/11 about which many in USA are convinced that it was an
in-house neo-cons-Jewish conspiracy. In retaliation, the US-NATO forces
destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, killed over two million Iraqis, caused
critical injuries to millions, rendered millions homeless. Likewise,
unknown number of Afghans lost their lives and millions got displaced.
Wanton slaughter of innocents who had nothing to do with 9/11 is not
regretted by invaders. WMD fakery which got exposed didn’t shame them.
Terrorism became the buzzword which justified Muslim bashing, gave a
freehand to the counter terrorism forces to kill without making any
distinction between terrorists and innocent onlookers. Drones were added
in the arsenal to slaughter Muslims without incurring any harm to the
killers. Drone war has been extended to Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Fiji.
To undermine Islam, western think tanks and intellectuals presented it
as a religion espousing militancy. Perpetrators of crimes against
humanity declared Islam and its followers as the real problem. Working
on the successfully tried out strategy of divide and rule, cleavage
between the seculars and Islamists was widened by describing the former
as moderates, progressive and enlightened, and the latter as
fundamentalists, extremists, bigoted and intolerant. The Taliban were
also bracketed as good and bad Taliban.
For nearly 12
years the Muslims have been hounded, persecuted, tortured and killed by
US-NATO forces. Yet the tormentors waging an unjust war are named as
counter insurgents and not terrorists. Ignoring the horrendous death and
destruction inflicted upon the Muslims, the US and the west never tire
saying that Muslims are terrorists. Any act of terror taking place in
any part of the world is promptly put in the basket of radical Muslims.
Boston incident is the recent example. This stance remains unchanged
despite the fact that no terrorist attack took place in USA after 9/11.
3-4 unsuccessful attempts by Muslim Americans were in reaction to unjust
and biased US policies against the Muslims and US support to Israel.
Those fiascos gave ammunition to the Islam bashers to further intensify
their vilification campaign against Islam.
The root causes of
growth of religious extremism in Muslim countries are insensitivity and
apathy of their rulers who remain more occupied in fulfilling their
selfish interests and in keeping Washington appeased; growing poverty
and widening gap between rich and poor; sectarianism and ethnicity; lack
of justice, cruel police station culture; rising obscenity, vulgarity
and immorality promoted by liberals; West’s defamation of Holy Prophet
through caricatures and movies; unjust and discriminatory US policies
against Muslims; US outright leaning towards Israel and defending
Israeli aggressive policies against Palestinians; US siding with India
on issue of Kashmir.
So the real problem is US and its
discriminatory policies and faulty policies of our ruling elite and not
Islam. If the US revenge has not been sated after slaughtering 2-3
million Muslims, one wonders how much time will be required for the
heirs of those who lost their near and dear ones in this unjust Muslim
specific war, to get over this trauma?
The issue is not whether
it is our or someone else’s war. The real issue is that it is a bloody
war in which none is a victor; the initiator has got exhausted and is
going back home; the futile war must end at the earliest.
—The writer is a retired Brig, defence analyst, columnist and author of several books.
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