The Zarqawis Among Us
With accurate intelligence locating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and some of his aides in a hut in Baquba, US aircraft successfully targeted the most wanted terrorist in Iraq with two 225 Lbs bombs. Zarqawi did not die immediately after the bombing, the 45 minutes leading to his actual death raised a minor controversy. Zarqawi was no intellectual he was simply an operator, made larger than life by media propaganda. In death, the murderous uneducated Jordanian remains very much the man of controversy he was in real life, the tragedy is that as a martyr he will inspire others to more insane acts of terrorism, atrocities not excluded.
A small time thug who reached Afghanistan in 1990 after the Soviets had left, Zarqawi ran a camp to train guerillas in a bid to overthrow the monarchy in Jordan. Arrested on return, he remained in jail for 7 years till his release when he somehow entered Iraq in 2001. After Saddam’s fall Zarqawi became a terrorist and a very brutal one at that. One need not shed any tears over his demise. Three types of insurgents presently populate Iraq, viz (1) native Iraqi Sunnis (2) Sunni neo-Salafis and (3) Shia militants. Under this broad canvas exist a myriad number of guerilla groups of different sizes, 200 or so in Zarqawi’s cells, a total of about 5000 – 6000 fanatical others more or less on the Zarqawi track. A 100000 or so guerillas are under arms, these include Shia groups and fanatical Saddam Hussain followers. The few foreign militants left are mostly in the second group. The Iraqi-fixated native Iraqis who make up the first group are in a vast majority, they seek to get back the ability to influence or control the administration of Iraq as they once did under Saddam Hussain. In contrast the smaller group of hard-line neo-Salafi Sunnis to which Zarqawi belonged seek a regional or global Jihad that will eliminate any presence of Christian and Jews as well as other sects of Islam by forcing them to their interpretation of the religion, their goals affect all Arab states and all of Islam.
Zarqawi was an equal opportunity terrorist, his violent Sunni neo-Salafi (and other Sunni Islamist extremist) groups clearly differ from other Sunni insurgents in their willingness to use violence against non-combatants and the innocent even against other Muslims. Far more willing to use extreme methods, like suicide bombers, against coalition soldiers as well as Shi’ite and Kurdish targets, equally used against Iraqi officials and Iraqis in the military, security, as well as police services, and Iraqis of all religious and ethnic background that do not support them in their interpretation of Jihad. They act on the principle that ordinary Iraqi citizens can be sacrificed in a war fought in God’s cause.
Mainstream Islam, to which a majority of us belong, believe in not only deep respect for “peoples of the book” but also tolerance for the other sects of Islam and their interpretation thereof. Nowhere does Islam espouse converting others by force to a particular brand of understanding which they do not accept. The use of force is a very narrow interpretation, thankfully it is confined only to a few like Zarqawi. This very small but brutal group of people not only exploited the Iraqi anger at the US invasion, the economic travails in the country and the sheer collective lack of hope in the system, but also raise fears in a majority of Sunnis about being governed by Shiite rule. The Sunni extremists readily target what they are up against but have no real sense about what they are struggling for. If we take a close look at our own militant organizations one will find the same theme of being confused about positive aims and objectives, and being “gung-ho” only about the negative ones. And do not stop at the militant extremists, ask a majority of those who gloss over the atrocities being perpetrated on innocents just because the ultimate targets are Americans.
One must strongly condemn the move by some members in the National Assembly (NA) to say “Fateha” for Zarqawi, this is an abomination of our religion and a slur on the name of all of Islam’s real “Shaheeds”. What is the perception Pakistan is giving to the world, in the face of being called “a terrorist State” by our detractors. That we accept the brutal killing by the beheading of innocents and video-taping thereof for public viewing? Terrorists like Zarqawi have not only divided the religion along sectarian lines but also pitted Sunnis against Sunnis.
By throwing up in stark and violent detail the differences between the various understandings and the bloody consequences thereof, Iraq provides us a great opportunity to recapture the middle ground of moderation, to define Islam correctly as a tolerant religion that encompasses all interpretation and respects each other’s views. Islam is very clear about not forcing acceptance of any one particular interpretation on the other, what to talk about killing those who do not accept it. Zarqawi has the blood of those muslims who did not agree with him on his hands, those not only include many Shias but also moderate Sunnis.
Politics aside, as a caucus of religious parties the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) was (and is) a very welcome development. By encompassing different sects within its fold, the MMA presents a united front of moderate Islam. However there is a contradiction, while refraining from imposing its religious beliefs on each other, the MMA is often guilty of trying to impose these beliefs on those who do not belong to MMA, thereby causing apprehensions about their intentions. It being only natural that those gifted with oratory will dominate debate, some elements among them look to militancy as the sole means of spreading their beliefs, does this minority represent the moderate elements within MMA who constitute the real force of Islam? If the MMA is not careful it will find that the minority militant forces with a gift of the gab will succeed in giving the entire MMA a bad name, in public perception the MMA are not far from such an eventuality.
The Shia-Sunni divide in Iraq is a very dangerous development for the world of Islam. While Zarqawi will be eulogized as a martyr by a small fanatical group, his short-sighted brutality against follow muslims must be held up as the symbol of all that has divided Islam. He seemed to revel in his cruelty towards detractors. Was Zarqawi trying to second guess our beloved Prophet (PBUH) who considered the “peoples of the book” as our brothers?
Very luckily Pakistan has been spared the spate of “suicide bombers” that have proliferated in Iraq and Palestine. How many times have “suicide bombers” attacked military/police installations and uniformed personnel thereof? For the most part women and children have been the victims. Is that what Islam is all about, targeting the innocents and the helpless? At least this is the message going out to friend and foe alike. People like Zarqawi were really leading double lives, one in which they attacked uniformed opponents which may not be right but was at least legitimate when differentiating freedom movement from terrorism, and the other where they used mayhem and murder to terrorize the population irrespective of their religion and sect, caste and creed.
The government’s efforts notwithstanding, all of us must also ensure that society as we know it does not disintegrate with this wanton onslaught on the very basis of our religion. Not for one moment we can countenance that militant minority with no respect for human lives should gain dominance over a moderate majority. We have to remove the Zarqawis amongst us, with counsel and debate that will focus on the stark choices, but with force if necessary.
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