Gautam Mukherjee
The world keeps turning, albeit more turbulently than usual in 2016. And each day, comes the news of fresh atrocities perpetrated by the troops of radical Islamic terrorism. It is killing dozens of innocent civilians, men, women, children, the sick, the dying, even the handicapped; victims include Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, those from other religions, somewhere, seemingly anywhere, around the world. Of late, this jihad factory, is obviously quickening the pace, but why? Does it want to dominate the news? Is it suffering too much attrition? Is it ramping up the effort to perpetrate its indiscriminate crimes against humanity, in order to provoke a more massive retaliation? Is it fighting for its survival with its back to the wall?
With almost every country coming under the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism, the world is rapidly losing its patience. All the leftist apologia on colonialism/neo-colonialism, and its consequences, now worn threadbare, causes a certain impatience, what with the scourge coming ever closer. Nobody is exempt, after all – more so, the rich and privileged, who make more attractive targets than random innocents.
This, in the mistaken belief that it will radicalize ever larger numbers of moderate Muslims, and drive them willingly into its arms, seeking revenge for debatable wrongs done. And all in the name of an Islam rendered hard to recognize, by a large, saddened, embarrassed, and suffering majority of its adherents. What happened, some amongst them are wondering aloud, to the peace of Islam?
Bt the jihad factory expects to attract more warriors to its fanaticism- against the whole world, excepting, perhaps, only themselves. Factional fights, and the rivalries and differences of leadership apart, it is super busy batch-processing young people to die for their doomed cause. What medievalist cause is this though, that is against everything modern and progressive, except weaponry and explosives? It is thought up by radical Wahhabi clerics, in Saudi-funded madrassas and mosques, that blatantly double as armouries; and twisted field commanders; all deliberately misinterpreting and distorting Islam, and brainwashing their charges/congregations to suit. What is the meaning of this bloodbath, unleashed by ‘commanders’ who use illiterate peasants, LTTE fashion, as suicide bombers? Are they, after several years of depredations, about to meet the same fate as the LTTE?
Why do they want to overthrow and/or annihilate if they get hold of the means to do so – ‘the Godless, nominally Christian West, the pagan Hindus, the Zionist Jews, apostates in their own midst, but as defined by themselves? Shias are being killed, if it is ISIS or the Taliban acting. Sunnis are dying, if it is the Hezbollah! Islamic states are just as much under attack – perhaps so that they can be terrorised and goaded into greater fundamentalism and support for this bloodthirsty quest. But, with oil and gas prices languishing, at less than half of what they used to be, and little hope of revival, the bottom may have been knocked out of the jihad business. There’s drugs, prostitution and extortion left, of course, but the organization needed for this, has been much degraded by enemy fire and competition. Women, as always for these misogynistic people, are in the cross hairs. The liberated and westernized ones, the non-believers, for being ‘depraved, immoral creatures’, and traditional muslim women too, so that they don’t dare rise into asserting their equality.
These killers operate under constantly changing banners and methods. There are lone-wolf executioners, suicide-bombers, remote controlled explosives, vehicles, trucks, assassins, women, even children, pressed into becoming the instruments of the slaughter. It is a guerilla war of immense cunning. In recent times, there have been new mass terrorist killings, in France, Germany, Afghanistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, the US, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, the UAE, Somalia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Italy, Spain, Norway, Portugal, India, Sweden, Switzerland; and even in the land of their chief financier and promoter of Wahabbism, Saudi Arabia. How long before these worthies go after Pakistan’s all-weather friend China, and spread into every other country, on the basis of the doctrine that if you are not overtly for us, with money and guns supplied, you must be against us! And yet, ISIS,, the Al Qaeda, the LeT, the Taliban, and their lesser and greater affiliates, have been steadily losing their top leadership at an enhanced pace, as the world gathers its intelligence and strikes back.
The attacks in Saudi Arabia are both illustrative and significant. Is the money-flow slowing, or drying up, with the drop in oil revenues? Is the intense military pressure on ISIS etc. bringing them to the point of final collapse? Is it do or die time for them already, with not a little blackmail thrown in? Why is Pakistan, both its civil and military leadership, plus the JeM, trying harder than ever to bring the Kashmir Valley to the boil? Are they losing too many infiltrators inside the country, and having difficulty sending in more? And are their local support bases in J&K, and elsewhere in India, being flushed/rooted out and wiped clean much too often for their comfort? The savagery and frequency of the latest, almost daily terrorist attacks, including those on Islamic states cracking down on terrorism, suggests desperation.
The rise of Donald Trump in the US, is terrifying for the jihadists and their financiers, if early noises from Qatar and Saudi Arabia are to be listened to. Should he win the presidency in November, it will certainly go badly for them all. NATO will be galvanized into action as a force multiplier and consensus builder, and the trainers, supporters, and sponsors of international terrorism, such as Pakistan, will find their feet held to the fire. Knowing this, it is curious that the jihad factory is trying, harder than ever, to browbeat both Europe and America into a psychological surrender. This, via terrorist attacks taken to the enemy, and other forms of practised savagery, such as beheadings, throwing homosexuals off roofs, and so forth, on home turf. Every current atrocity committed however, is acting like a shot in the arm for the Trump campaign. So why are they doing it? Is it to panic his Democrat opposition into suing for peace with the jihadists? Are they hoping against hope that Trump won’t win? But the opposite seems to be happening willy-nilly. Around the globe, the once moderate and liberal, having had their countries bloodied, again and again, are starting to give up on their own instincts. They too, and are being sucked into altogether tougher approach to terrorism advocated, for example, by both candidate Trump, and our own prime minister Modi, amongst others. With almost every country coming under the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism, the world is rapidly losing its patience. All the leftist apologia on colonialism/neo-colonialism, and its consequences, now worn threadbare, causes a certain impatience, what with the scourge coming ever closer. Nobody is exempt, after all – more so, the rich and privileged, who make more attractive targets than random innocents.
(Author is columnist, views are personal)