Terrorism - A Messiah Needed in the Arab World

31 Oct, 2001    ·   625

Lt Gen AM Vohra points out that terrorism carried out in the name of Islam is a perversion of the Kuran
Lt. Gen. AM Vohra
The 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were heinous, fiendish and abhorrent.   The reaction to punish the perpetrators who threaten to repeat their performance is natural.  The demand that Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaida compatriots be handed over to face retribution is unlikely to be met.  Military action to “hound” them and destroy the Taliban forces is, therefore, justifiable.  The intense air bombardment and cruise missile attacks will effectively downgrade their military potential.  Some collateral damage by way of civilian casualties is unavoidable.  The commitment of the US and coalition ground forces to a ‘Desert Storm’ type role is unlikely.  Employment of special forces and commandos in strike and snatch raids against Al Qaida cadres are required.  Intelligence is of the essence for such tasks.

 

 

The Northern Alliance will need support by way of armaments, logistics and air support.  The US air and missile operations have eased the Alliance task.  The objective is obviously to weaken the Taliban to the extent that they accept a new political dispensation in Afghanistan .  Efforts are afoot to hold a Loya Jirga under the stewardship of the 86 year old King Zahir Shah, whose emissaries arrived in Islamabad around mid-October for discussion with the Pakistan government.  The support to the Alliance appears to be restricted to facilitating the capture of Mazar-i-Sharif, but not Kabul .  Both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance would be amenable to a compromise if the former is weakened and the latter is not too strong.

 

 

Expectedly, there are voices being raised against the military action, although most Arab and other Muslim countries including Pakistan have vowed support to the ‘coalition’ led by the US despite their own reservations.  In many countries there have been large-scale protests, particularly in Pakistan , Indonesia and Algeria and a display of religious sympathy, overlooking the gravity of the acts of terrorism.  Nevertheless, to deal with terrorism one has to deal with its basic causes. 

 

 

Despotic monarchies in West Asia impose values and a way of life that promotes protest by violent means.  The Wahabi creed is intolerant.  Fundamentalism flourishes in these circumstances.  US policy in this region is also questionable.  Religious fundamentalism spawns terrorism but geopolitics precipitates violent acts.  However, nothing can justify the acts committed on 11 September.  The perpetrators must be brought to justice.  This would only be the start of the war against terrorism to be followed by dealing with its causes, be they despotic regimes, intolerant beliefs or, the flawed policies of the US .  The continuing threats of more fidayeen attacks or bio-terrorism necessitate urgent action on all fronts.

 

 

Islam is a religion of peace.  Islam means ‘peace’.  The Islamic greeting, Aslam-e-lekum, means ‘Peace be upon you’.  Collin Powell is right when he says in a Newsweek column  on 15 October that, “the millions of our fellow Americans of the Islamic faith, and the 10 Muslim nations that lost citizens in the September 11 attacks, need no convincing that the killers and their accomplices pervert Islam when they use it to justify their appalling crimes”. On September 28, the FBI released the text of identical letters in Arabic, found in three different places in the United States , that link together the hijackers of three of the four airlines.  Commenting on these letters, Nehad Awad, the Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, recalled his horror at the twisted use of Islam in the text and said, “I felt sick to my stomach.  Then I consulted with other scholars, and they had the same reaction.  The terrorists are sick individuals and they have no knowledge of their religion.  Whoever wrote these letters was just trying to deform the Koran to justify what the terrorists were about to do”.  Truly, the Arab world needs a Messiah to preach the true Islam.

 

 

India has been suffering from cross border terrorism for over a decade.  Its pleadings with the international community to tackle the problem of global terrorism drew little attention.  Naturally, it was among the first to join the ‘coalition’ against terrorism in the hope that action would be taken to end it everywhere and, in particular, the jehadi organisations and training camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Action against terrorism, both at the perceptual and physical levels, cannot be taken simultaneously and has to be phased.  It is clear that Osama bin Laden, his Al Qaida setup and the Taliban must be the US's first objectives; it is also evident that Pakistan is geographically so situated that its support is vital for US operations.  In these circumstances, US condemnation of the 1st October terrorist attack on the Legislature in Srinagar and the statement that terrorism against India is also on the coalition agenda should be accepted at face value, and built upon in due course of time.

 

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