Monday, 2 February 2015

The IS beheading of Japanese journalist is a deadly warning to India




Their message to the world at large; no “enemy of Islam” is safe in any corner of the world.

POLITICS | 5-minute read | 02-02- 2015 | DailyO |

Col R Hariharan  @colhari2

The beheading of a captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in Syria is the latest in the jihadi terror outfit Islamic State (IS)’s serial acts of barbaric killing of 
innocent and helpless people going on for some time now.

The IS found Kenji "guilty" of trying to save his Japanese friend who was beheaded earlier.

With their beheadings, Japan joins the growing rank of nations who want to settle blood debts with the IS. Japan is perhaps one of the few countries where the long arm of Islam reached late with perhaps less than 10,000 native Japanese Muslims. So what was the big deal in the IS adding Japanese victims to its bizarre headcount? With millions of dollars it is earning through captured oil wells, the IS does not need the $200 million ransom it demanded from Japan for its survival. Then,why this mindless killing?

The British-accented, English-speaking masked IS killer who held the knife to Kenji’s throat in the beheading video gave the answer: “Abe, because of your reckless decision to take part in an unwinnable war, this knife will not only slaughter Kenji, but will also carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found. So, let the nightmare for Japan begin,” he said. The killer was referring to Abe’s pledge of $200 million non-military assistance to the countries fighting the IS.

With these killings across the global spectrum, the IS is making two statements. One, to demonstrate its immense reach to impress sections of young Muslims who feel the need for superheroes to avenge the Western world where they see their culture ridiculed and religion derided. They apparently lap up the IS propaganda videos to volunteer their services. Otherwise it is difficult to understand well-educated, second generation Muslims in the West joining the IS. For instance as many 2,000 such youth from Germany are reported to have joined the IS.

The second message from the IS is to the world at large; no “enemy of Islam” is safe in any corner of the world. The whole IS episode has left Muslims all over the world numb. They see both the perpetrators and victims of terrorism in their midst.

Nothing depicts this more starkly than in India. In Chennai, many hoardings in Tamil condemning terrorist acts in the name of Islam were prominently displayed by Muslim organisations along the route of Muharram procession through their locality. This was in sharp contrast to the serial reports of youth from Bangalore volunteering to join the IS. In the latest episode, Turkey has deported nine persons from Bangalore back to India after they were found trying cross over to Syria to join the IS; three of them were working in IT companies including one who had worked in the US for over a decade. The police are not sure if they were planning to join the IS and not to provide assistance to the suffering Sunni population in strife torn Syria as some of them claimed.

The IS’ bloody spoors are being left across Europe, the Arab world, South Asia, Southeast Asia and even Australia. How to deal with the IS is a question debated widely across the governments, civil society circles including Islamic ones and judicial pundits in many countries. Countries have responded in various ways. Jordan which is a frontline state facing the IS threat in its neighbourhood has warned it would carry out the death sentence of the IS terrorists in its custody if the IS kills the Jordan pilot in their custody. At the other end is Canada which had been a safe haven for LTTE’s overseas hub. It is now waking up to the IS terror threat. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is bringing a legislation that would make encouraging terror attacks a crime. It would also enlarge the powers of the country’s intelligence agency.

India cannot be in a state of denial that its population is doing its bit to further the objectives of the IS. The presence of 40 Indians under the control of the IS for some time now should be a matter of concern. So it should plan for the worst scenario. At the same time, the measures we take should be based on our actual needs rather than copying other models. We need to discuss and deliberate on this issue across the communities and the nation.

Will civil society bodies including religious ones make a positive contribution to encourage the dialogue process rather than nit-pick suggested solutions? Political parties can take the easiest first step: to shut up their fellow travelling activist bodies of various hues which spout paranoia and stoke violence in the name of secularism as well as religion. And we need to revisit our existing laws against terrorist organisations to make them more comprehensive. I doubt whether a politician or a religious head celebrating the IS for beheading of a civilian would be prosecuted under the existing counter terrorism laws in this country.

Can we adopt a law like what Canada is enacting? I can see the hackles of civil society activists rising; they always stand up whenever the human rights of the guilty are threatened. Yes; we need to safeguard the fundamental rights of every citizen including the terrorist. But we should not forget that the right to life of the hapless victim of terror is as precious as that of the terrorist. Can we carry out a dispassionate debate at evolving a comprehensive legislation on terrorism in Parliament? The cynic in me says no; legislators, kindly prove me wrong.

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