An affront to humanity

As gory footages from a night of terror in Paris was rolled repeatedly on television, this author like many other peaceniks wondered, for how long will this affront to humanity continue? From Beirut to Tunis, via Sinai, Paris, Ankara and Bamako, insanity has emerged victorious. Can mankind not unite to eliminate violence, fratricidal killings or religious hatred and live in harmony? Are we expecting far too much of ourselves?
Can we, humans — arguably the most intelligent species on earth, not harness our strengths to create a truly egalitarian society where people of all faiths will be treated with dignity, where everyone will show genuine concern for the feelings and welfare of others and where there will be no racial prejudices or hate crimes or acts of violent extremism? May be it is a dream, but this dream is borne out of tragedy, the horror of bloodbath and killing of innocents.
It is indeed a peculiar situation. The perpetrators do not know why they kill indiscriminately; the victims do not know why they are paying the price of innocence with their lives. Is France not open, heterogeneous and welcoming? It is here where people from diverse background rub alongside each other. And yet, individuals, who thrived in this vibrant multi-faith democracy, threw the entire French polity into a tizzy by embracing extremism and killing fellow citizens in cold blood. The big question is what made a normal human being turn into a deadly predator? Is it alienation, victimization, as one of the assailants was reportedly a decent fellow until he was sacked from job and put under surveillance on mere suspicion or is it the oft-mentioned revenge mindset?
After all, strict separation of the Church from the State in France since 1905 insulated non-Catholic immigrants from majoritarian coercion to a large extent. Besides, an effective social welfare system in addition to the concept of laïcité made France an attractive destination for Muslim immigrants from across the Mediterranean. And then suddenly, everything changed and the somewhat liberal policy of assimilation that drew the imagination of migrant population turned discriminatory, especially for those who wanted to practice their religion. Many believe, France’s muscular interventionist policies in the Middle East and unqualified support to western military invasion of Muslim countries acted as a catalyst in the radicalization of disgruntled youths.
However, as a strategic intelligence officer (SIO) with extensive knowledge in indoctrination of human assets once told this author, “politico-strategic arm of a State always holds the strings of extremism discreetly. Religion is merely a tool to infuse within strategic assets a particular political vision in accordance with the desired objective.” Indeed, faith has been used as an alibi to justify terrorism. Al-Qaeda has done it in the past and now Daesh is using the same tactics, as corroborated by Didier Francois, the French journalist who spent 10 months in Daesh captivity. Most interestingly, Francois discovered during his frightful detention that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi’s men, supposedly fighting for the cause of Islam, are neither capable of debating the true teachings of Islam nor do they carry the Holy Qur’an. As rightly pointed out by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, such radicals, carrying “a falsified Islamic banner” have promoted a version of Islam, which is “fueling the international opinion to hate Muslims.”
Muslims are now seen as “culprits and a source of fear and concern” even though the truth lies somewhere else. And the greatest danger to the Islamic Ummah comes from a bunch of “misled and misguided terrorists, who have given an opportunity to those eyeing to hurt Islam, to vilify its followers.” Unfortunately, taking advantage of the misdeeds of a few, who have fallen prey to intelligence poaching, vested interests are trying to demonize Islam by correlating it with grave crimes. There has been a sustained effort to Islamize terrorism, which threatens to tarnish a faith that has been essentially moderate and respectable throughout. Very rightly, King Salman urged the international community, particularly the Islamic bloc, to refrain from providing moral or financial lifeline to extremists serving the vicious agenda of Islam-haters. As clerics in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and elsewhere confront the theological justification put forth by radicals to pursue a perverted ideology, there is an urgent need for some plain-speaking too. Islam is not the only religion to have been tactfully exploited and used as an instrument to sub-serve strategic pursuit of deeper goals.
Actors bound to Islam are not the only ones to have executed mass murders. How many people know rabid anti-Buddhist sentiments played a major role in indoctrination of Sri Lanka’s Tamil guerrillas? Of late, there has been an attempt to malign KSA only to bypass any discussion on the role of western politics and policies in contributing to a climate, favorable to the rise of extremist values. Surely, KSA is not the incubating cause of Daesh terrorism. Rather, Daesh’s creation, sources reveal, is a tactical ploy to fester Islamic disunity by exploiting the sectarian divide and destabilize the Middle East, which in itself is detrimental to KSA’s sovereignty. Besides, several nations, including India, have strategic assets within the fishy Daesh-fold, working overtime to further respective strategic interests. And to eliminate terror unleashed by Daesh and other groups operating globally, the simple way in Noam Chomsky’s words is to stop participating in it.