Militancy strikes back

Azimullah Khan, an Indian atheist, went to Britain in the 1850s on behalf of Nana Sahib, a king, from Kanpur. Nana Sahib was insulted time and again by the local agents of British East-India Company and sent the young man, who was a teacher by profession, to inform the Court of Directors of the company about the condition of the so-called “king” under the rule of the company in India. Azimullah, who struggled all his life, soon realised that the directors of the company would never pay heed to his plea, and the condition of India was not going to see any change in the near future.

Before boarding on the ship bound for India, he came to know that the mighty British-French coalition conceded a shocking defeat to the Russian troops in Malta during the Crimean campaign. Panic gripped his mind. Instead of returning to India, he boarded on a Turkish ship to see what made the British lose the battle.

He went to Crimea and observed how the Russians use their guns, the way they fight against the allied force, with great interest. The seed of revolution was planted in his brain. He later became an influential figure in the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. It is believed that the massacre at Satichaura Ghat was led by him. However, the failure of Britain in Crimea inspired him to revolt.

A so-called rebellion is currently taking place in Iraq. The rebels of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant have taken control of a significant part of Iraq. The president of United States has declared he would send some American military advisers to Iraq to overcome the situation. Most of the Americans believe that such steps can never bring any positive result. They argue that this mission will end up in vain, just like the military advisers of Kennedy failed in Vietnam.

ISIL, the terrorist outfit formed with a view to establishing an Islamic state in Iraq and Eastern Mediterranean territory, is believed to have the control of a great stretch of territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria. The turbulent situation of Syria and Iraq has made them even more influential in those regions.

It started its operation initially in Syria against the Assad regime and gained considerable military success by seizing the Syrian city of Raqqa, in March 2013. The terrorist outfit, inspired by Wahhabism, has snatched the second-largest city of Iraq and is advancing towards Baghdad.

Though the group has gained a reputation of brutal rule in the areas that it controls, like every other militant group, most of the Sunnis in Syria and Iraq have sympathy for them. The question now arises: Are the Sunnis so fanatical to support a terrorist outfit?

It is difficult to find the exact answer to this question. The Muslims of Iraq are mainly divided into three clans – Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds. Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq later executed by United States, used to facilitate the Sunnis by providing them with government jobs and other facilities, while he excluded the Shiites and had been very cruel to the Kurds.

No doubt Saddam Hussein established a reign of terror in Iraq during his regime. In 2003, the US along with Britain toppled Saddam Hussein, seized the whole country, uprooted the Baath party, cornered the followers of Saddam, and eliminated the elite Republican Guard. Iraq turned into a valley of death, while hundreds of thousands died due to the violence that erupted after the invasion.

Sunnis, the majority of the Iraqi population who were known as the supporters of Saddam, were oppressed by the US army of occupation as well as by the government, dominated by Shiites since 2003.

Iraq reminds us of the verse; a kingdom was lost for want of a nail. The invaders did everything to demolish the apparatus of Saddam Hussein by which he used to rule, but never tried to establish an effective government that can provide the Iraqis with security and other basic needs.

The Iraqi government reported that 7,154 people were killed in 2013, including security forces personnel and militants. The widespread violence in Iraq has agitated many of its citizens. There are reasons to believe that the Iraqis, specially the Sunnis are supporting the militants to get rid of the turmoil.

The rise of ISIL, aka ISIS, is actually caused by the Western powers and their Arab allies. To usurp Assad from the throne, the Western countries and their allies in the Middle East have backed the rebels of Syria indiscriminately that ultimately empowered such terrorist outfits in that troubled region.

Moreover, the anti-colonial spirit has deepened its root among the young Turks after the invasion in Afghanistan and Iraq. Observers noticed that most of the fighters of ISIL are very young and a good number of volunteers who joined in ISIL are from Europe.

Tony Blair opined that the jihadist group advancing across Iraq rebuilt itself and organised the Iraq operation from the chaos in Syria. In other words the world leaders, suffering from indecision, have caused the prolonged chaos that is producing such militant outfits.

Prior to the fall of Mosul by ISIL, the terrorist group Boko Haram of Nigeria terrorised the country by kidnapping hundreds of girls. It seems that the United Nations and the world leaders have become too numb to feel what is happening around.

The world leaders have to sort out the problems of Iraq and Syria soon. Suffrage of the citizens of the every country has to be restored. Democracy must flourish to avoid further chaos. Every possible step to combat the militancy should be taken to keep them at the bay. No stone should be left unturned. Otherwise, the continuous failure of the Western policy may give birth to thousands of insurgents like Azimullah Khan.