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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