Would Pakistan Take Serious Measures to Weed Out Terrorism?

 

By: Kayhan Int’l 

Terrorists in Pakistan which practice their murderous profession with impunity – and, of course, immunity from arrest by the authorities – carried out yet another cowardly attack near Quetta to kill and injure men, women, and children, at a busy vegetable and fruit market, and then brazenly announced their identity.

Friday’s blasts at the Sabzi Mandi of Hazratganj that claimed the life of at least 22 persons and left some 60 others injured, were triggered, as usual, through remote-control by the dastardly terrorists, who afraid of losing their own life, either plant the explosives in advance or find some unsuspecting person to carry the bagful of incendiary material for a paltry sum (and definite death), to give the impression of suicide.

The target was the Persian-speaking Hazara Shi’a Muslim community whose members have become sitting ducks by Takfiri terrorists, who shamelessly brag of being ‘Qaris’ or reciters and memorizers of the holy Qur’an.

Two of the terrorist spokesmen who contacted the press to take responsibility for this latest crime against humanity, identified themselves as Qari Saifullah of the notorious Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Qari Hussain of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Both of them waxed proud on having shed the blood of Hazara Muslims, which betrays their hypocrisy and un-Islamic nature in the light of God Almighty’s explicit revelation to Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) in the holy Qur’an:

"We decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, without [its being guilty of] manslaughter or corruption on the earth, is as though he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind… (5:32)

It is obvious that neither the Hazaras have killed fellow Muslims nor as followers of the School of the Prophet’s Immaculate Household, the Ahl al-Bayt, do they cause corruption in society or for that matter regard adherents of other Islamic sects as infidels.

This means the Takfiris are not only unfamiliar with the letter and spirit of the holy Qur’an and the Prophet’s Sunnah, but like the genocidal Zionists and the murderous white racists, they are devoid of any basic humanitarian values and simply relish bloodletting – whether of Shi’as or Orthodox Sunnis opposed to the Wahhabi cult.

Like the Satan, which quickly infiltrates the hearts and minds of the soulless, the US, the godfather of all terrorism, by directing the seditious Saudis to open up their coffers to all such terrorist outfits, sows seeds of discord to splinter Muslim ranks as part of its elaborate plot to weaken the Ummah worldwide.

But what is deplorable is the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities of Pakistan who lack the guts to confront and punish the various terrorist outfits destabilizing the country – whether internally or by carrying out acts of terrorism in the neighbouring countries of Iran, Afghanistan, and India.

Several Iranian border guards are still being held hostage in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province by terrorists who kidnapped them in a cross-border raid last February. Unfortunately, the government in Islamabad, not to lose the tempting carrot of billions of dollars of investment by the Riyadh regime, is dragging its feet despite repeated pleas by Tehran to procure their release. 

In such a situation, it will be naïve to think that and terrorism will ever end in Pakistan.         

Prime Minister Imran Khan Niyazi’s toothless tweet did not console the aggrieved Hazara community whose members are staging a sit-in on the Northern Bypass to demand immediate arrest of the killers, while the vague assurances of Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langau, who reached the area, have failed to persuade them to end the blockade. 

"Deeply saddened & have strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Hazarganji market area of Quetta targeting our innocent people. I have asked for an immediate inquiry & increased security for the people. Prayers go to the families of the victims & for early recovery of the injured.”

Beautiful words indeed from the Oxford-educated former captain of the Pakistani cricket team who brought many laurels for the country, but is finding it difficult to play on the political pitch, as is evident by his calling for "immediate inquiry”, which seems to be a stone-walling tactics, when the identity of the killers is crystal clear, and they can be caught without delay.

In the same vein was President Dr Arif Alvi’s condemnation of the blast and terming it a "heinous act of terrorism which was a reminder for us as nation that few remnants of this menace are still left to be eliminated totally.”

Hopefully, as expressed by Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, the brotherly Pakistani government and people would foil the conspiracy of the region’s enemies by maintaining unity and vigilance.

And this requires real action to nab the terrorists, and mete out the punishment they deserve in order to nip in the bud all potential acts of terrorism. 

Saudi Wahhabism Helping to Spread Islamophobia: Australian Prof.

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior professor and political analyst based in Australia described Saudi Arabia as a "client state" for the US and said Wahhabism, which is "a cult built around the Riyadh regime", is helping in spreading hatred against Muslim communities in the world.

"Certainly, Wahhabism is a key tool at the root of divisions in the Middle East, helping to spread hatred against Muslim communities," Professor Tim Anderson said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

"In this respect, the Saud family, serving as a ‘cat’s paw’ or client state for Washington, has done tremendous harm to the image of Islam in the world," he added.

Professor Tim Anderson is a distinguished author and Director of the Sydney-based Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies. He has worked at Australian universities for more than 30 years, teaching, researching and publishing on development, human rights and self-determination in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East. In 2014, he was awarded Cuba’s medal of friendship. He is Australia and Pacific representative for the Latin America based Network in Defence of Humanity. His most recent books are: Land and Livelihoods in Papua New Guinea (2015), The Dirty War on Syria (2016), now published in ten languages; and Countering War Propaganda of the Dirty War on Syria (2017). His next book Axis of Resistance is due out in 2019.

The following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: Turkey's Istanbul recently hosted an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) about "increasing violence based on Islamophobia" a week after the New Zealand mosque attack killed at least 50 Muslims, including children. What do you think about the importance of the emergency meeting and the concerns of the participants?

Anderson: It is important that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation made that statement, and that there is wider coordinated action against the vilification of Muslims and of Islam. However, such a statement is undermined when it comes from Mr. Erdogan, who is well known to have supported DAESH in Syria and Iraq, in pursuit of his own ambitions. Those who backed Wahhabism and DAESH have done greater damage to the image of Islam in the world than any individual terrorist. Most well educated people in the region have already recognized this.

Tasnim: Brenton Tarrant, the Australian terrorist who carried out the pre-planned attack on two mosques in New Zealand’s Christchurch, penned a 74-page manifesto that he published around the time of the shootings. Revealing his admiration for Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway back in 2011, Tarrant also praised US President Donald Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose." Breivik’s attacks in Norway were described as "lone wolf" domestic terrorist attacks. Some claim that the terror attack in Christchurch was also the same. Can we describe the attack “lone wolf” or you think that an anti-Islam current is behind it?

Anderson: The terrorist in Christchurch, New Zealand, cannot have acted alone. There is a great deal of speculation about those from whom he got support. I do not want to add speculative comments. The official inquiry announced by the government of New Zealand may help shed more light on this. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that the gunman and his associates drew on a wider anti-Muslim and anti-Arab current in Western culture, a current encouraged by many Western governments during the multiple wars they launched against the independent states and peoples of the Middle East region. For example, in just five newspapers of the Australia-based News Corp (Murdoch) group, a survey found, in one year, ‘almost 3000 articles that referred to Islam or Muslims alongside words like violence, extremism, terrorism or radical’ (https://www.onepathnetwork.com/islam-in-the-media-2017). That constant anti-Muslim agitation must infect many feeble minds with racial or religious hatred. It serves as the background for such horrific crimes. Yet it seems to be thought necessary, by western elites, to attract popular support for the recent series of Washington-led wars.

Tasnim: In your opinion, how can Muslims prevent the spread of Islamophobia? Wahhabism is Saudi Arabia's dominant faith and blamed for the rise of Islamophobia in the world. The ideology is closely linked to extremist ideas that have nothing to do with true Islam. Do not you think that one of the ways to prevent the spread of Islamophobia is to prevent the spread of Wahhabism?

Anderson: Certainly, Wahhabism is a key tool at the root of divisions in the Middle East, helping to spread hatred against Muslim communities. In this respect, the Saud family, serving as a ‘cat’s paw’ or client state for Washington, has done tremendous harm to the image of Islam in the world. I would not say that Wahhabism is a ‘faith’; it may draw on certain conservative doctrines, including Salafism, but Wahhabism is really a cult built around the Riyadh regime. That Wahhabi cult works alongside the ‘Second Temple’ cult of Israel, using finance and propaganda to generate divisions amongst the people of the region. The result is a weak and divided region, open to subjugation by the imperial and former colonial powers. Yet the only hope of definitively defeating this recent neo-colonial project (called a ‘New Middle East’) is the close coordination and unity of resistance forces. We have to conclude that Saudi Wahhabism – build from its beginnings through collusion with the colonial powers - is a key enemy of the peoples of the region.

World Mosque Day

August 21 is marked as International Mosque Day since 2003 AD, following Iran’s initiative at the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and its approval by the OIC Foreign Ministerial Meeting.

On this day in 1969 AD, exactly 49 years ago an arson attack was launched by the Zionists on Islam’s former Qibla (focal point of prayer), the al-Aqsa Mosque in Bayt al-Moqaddas. The usurper regime of Israel attributed the fire to Australian tourist, Denis Michael Rohan, and detained him, but a court in Tel Aviv released him on the pretext of being mentally ill. Muslims throughout the world held protest rallies, compelling heads of Muslim states to establish the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) the next year, to counter the threats against Islamic sanctities.

As we said, in 2003 on the proposal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the OIC designated August 21 as World Mosque Day in order to arouse international conscience towards the sanctity of mosques. Thus, every year, the International Mosque Day is observed in the Islamic Republic of Iran and other countries, on the anniversary of the arson attack on al-Aqsa Mosque in the Zionist occupied Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas – Islam’s third holiest site. The goal is to arouse amongst Muslims the importance of mosques, and their role in promoting religious, ethical, cultural, social and various other morally-upright activities.

This was not the only crime of the Zionist entity against the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque. In March 1968, the Zionist had started excavations underneath al-Aqsa on the pretext of unearthing traces of what they called Solomon’s Temple. Since then a tunnel has been dug underneath the mosque, and goal is to destroy this sacred site of Islam and replace it with a Jewish temple. The Zionists, along with an outfit in the US called the Christian Zionists, believe that destruction of al-Aqsa Mosque and its replacement by a temple will speed up the advent of the Jewish Messiah. Today, Zionist warplanes are criminally targeting mosques in the besieged Gaza Strip.

All religions have their own particular places of worship, and regard them as sacred. The Christians have the church; the Jews have the synagogue, while the Zoroastrians and other creeds have the temples. Islam, as the culmination of the message of monotheism preached by all Prophets of God all over the world since the beginning of creation, has the mosque, which is considered the house of God. This is a symbolic reference, since the Almighty Creator is One and Only, and is everywhere. He is neither confined to any particular place nor has a shape or size to be perceived by the human eye. He is far too glorious to be encompassed by the imagination of the creatures.

Thus, He could be worshipped everywhere, but in order to hold congregational worship and to provide believers with an adequate place to assemble for fulfilling rites and rituals, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) instructed the building of a special place of worship called mosque. The Arabic term for mosque is ‘masjid’, which means a place of prostration, and hence it is necessary to protect the sanctity of the place where the believers manifest their humbleness before the Majesty of God. An important point to note is that mosques are the supreme symbol of monotheism and should not be tainted by obeisance to anyone else than God. In view of this fact, the Almighty says in ayah 18 of Surah Jinn of the holy Qur’an:

“The places of worship belong to Allah, so do not invoke anyone along with Allah.”

The mosques should thus be clean and neat places, and the worshippers should also be ritually clean when they enter it. For this reason, God says in ayah 31 of Surah A’raf:

“O Children of Adam! Put on your adornment on every occasion of prayer,”

This ayah means to say that the word adornment here is not just a reference to apparels, but to moral virtues as well. In view of this fact, the Prophet of Islam has said: “Whoever builds a mosque, God will build a house for him in Paradise.”

The Prophet once addressing his loyal companion Abu Zar Ghaffari said: O Abu Zar as long as you are in the mosque, for each breath you take God Almighty will raise a degree for you in Paradise and the angels will salute you. The Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS) has said: Go to the mosques since the mosques are houses of God on the earth.

In view of the importance of mosques and their high status, God Almighty says in ayah 114 of Surah Baqara:

“Who is a greater wrongdoer than him who denies access to the mosques of Allah lest His Name be celebrated therein, and tries to ruin them? Such ones may not enter them, except in fear. There is disgrace for them in this world, and there is for them a great punishment in the Hereafter.”

Mosques in Islam, besides functioning as religious centres, carry out cultural, social and educational activities for the benefit of Muslim youth and for the sound and ethical development of Muslim societies. It is worth noting that the Prophet Mohammad used to deal with various affairs of the Islamic state from his headquarters in the mosque. That is why, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless his soul), used to say that mosques are the trenches of our society.

During the 8-year war that the US had imposed on Iran through Saddam in the 1980s, mosques functioned as recruiting centres for enthusiastic combatants marching to the frontlines for the defence of their faith and homeland. It is unfortunate that in India, frenzied vandals in 1992 destroyed the historic Babri Mosque. In Myanmar, it has become the habit of the Buddhist terrorists to attack and burn down mosques. Even in Muslim countries the Godless regimes ruling them, are targeting mosques.

For instance, the regime in the Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan, which is Muslim in name only, recently closed down or destroyed several mosques, while granting permission to the Zionist entity to build synagogues in the capital Baku and in other cities. In Bahrain, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime periodically attacks and destroys mosque and even burns copies of the holy Qur’an. In Saudi Arabia also mosques are occasionally destroyed by the Wahhabi cult.

In Syria and Iraq the Takfiri terrorists frequently desecrate and destroy mosques and other Islamic religious sites. In the so-called free and democratic societies of the US and Europe, there are many restrictions for Muslim concerning mosque attendance. This explains for the support of the US for the criminal Zionist entity and for the Aal-e Khalifa regime of Bahrain, as well as for the Wahhabi cult of Saudi Arabia and for the Takfiri terrorists in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

In short the mosque is the bastion of Islam, and therefore it is essential for us to protect its sanctity.