PKKH Exclusive|By Atiq Durrani
Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish-line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people including an 8 year old child and injuring more than 140. According to law enforcement sources, more bombs were set to explode but did not.
Immediately after the blasts, two questions were most important for the U.S., the rest of the world and especially for the Muslim world. Who was behind this and why?
“Why” was quite obvious, it was done to terrify the people of the US; but who did this is still not clear. The Muslim world is clearly apprehensive that the US will immediately associate bombing attacks on US citizens with Muslim extremists.
Although after every terrorist attack in the US or anywhere in the world, leaders of the Muslim world condemn it and express their sympathies with the effected country and its people, but the fear of “which country will be destroyed for these attacks?” is always looming upon them.
After 9/11, the US invaded Afghanistan; none of the terrorists involved in 9/11 attacks was Afghani, but still they invaded Afghanistan to wipe out Al-Qaeda and kill Usama bin Laden. After 10 years, they managed to kill Usama, invading the sovereignty of a Muslim country and front line ally – Pakistan. In this War on Terror, almost 50,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan and 3300 civilians died in Pakistan because of US drone attacks.
Iraq was invaded in March 2003; Bush administration stated that this invasion was the “serious consequences” spoken of in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Resolution 1441, which had offered Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations or face serious consequences (the Resolution had not authorize the use of force by member states).
Although the Iraqi government subsequently allowed the UN inspectors access to Iraqi sites, but that was not enough to make the US happy. In March 2003, the US invaded Iraq in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction that were never found, but this war killed 109,032 Iraqi’s including 66,081 civilian deaths, from March 2003 to Dec 2009. A peaceful country was turned into a living hell; Iraqi people are still facing the consequences of the US invasion in the form of bomb blasts and suicide attacks.
These wars made it clear for Muslim countries that they can be invaded without any reason. No one is there to ask the US about the WMD of Iraq for which they killed 66,000 Iraqi civilians. The problems of Palestine and Kashmir are still unresolved after decades and multiple resolutions but resolutions like 1441 can be passed within a few days and promptly implemented by the US.
Similarly, there is no action against a country like Israel, destroying the peace of the Middle East and possessing WMD, but if a Muslim country will be involved in any such case the actions are always very efficient. If it’s Iran or Iraq, Libya or Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan; at that time they don’t even segregate them as Shia or Sunni, they just know one thing – “it’s a Muslim country”.
After killing Usama Bin Laden in May 2011 and al-Awlaki in Sep 2011, Obama Administration announced to the nation that “Al-Qaeda is on the run and on its path of decline”. But still, whenever a terror attack or even a shooting by some retarded person happens in the US, Muslims pray that the involved should not be a Muslim.
There were reports that a Saudi national, student in Boston, was questioned in the hospital about the Boston blasts. According to a news report, “The man was tackled and held by a ¬bystander after he was seen running from near the scene of the explosion”. Later, the Saudi man told the FBI that he ran only because he was frightened.
Rush, a regular on Fox News, also blamed Islamic Extremists for the Boston blasts without having any reason. Not only that, he went a step forward and has called for all Muslims to be killed in a sarcastic tweet.
He is ready to kill all the Muslims for the act of a few people who killed 3 Americans – while those few people who planned or executed this are not even known yet – but the Muslims of Iraq and Afghanistan are still pondering, after the decade of war, ‘ whom they should kill for the thousands of Muslims killed in the war against terror by the US army’.
A Libyan Twitter user named Hend Army tweeted a message, “Please don’t be a Muslim”, after the Boston attacks. The same message was retweeted by Jenan Moussa, a journalist in Dubai, with an addition that the plea was “The thought of every Muslim right now.”
This and hundreds of other tweets, Facebook statuses and articles clearly indicated that there is negative apprehension in the Muslim world. This apprehension is not for the fear of death; this is an apprehension of being treated unfairly once again. This fear of injustice for Muslims, may sometimes compel them to wear a suicide jacket and attack the US Army and their installations in Afghanistan and Iraq, some of them think of taking a revenge and plan a terrorist attack again them in their countries (US, UK etc.), some of them raise their voices against their own leaders and condemn them for being friends of the US and the West, some of them start questioning the role of the UN and ask about its double standards. The reactions are different but it is quite obvious that the fear is there.
Destroying a country and then rebuilding it with funds like the USAID cannot prove that you are the well-wishers of that country. What did a decade long war change in Afghanistan? For a decade, the US was fighting against Taliban, and today they are sitting around the same table with them, discussing their own peaceful exit and situation of Afghanistan with the same Taliban they attacked 12 years back. Same is the case with Iraq; a peaceful country with a great economy was destroyed in the name of WMD’s, and today it is the home of bomb blasts and suicide attacks.
The US and the UN will have to change their strategy towards the Muslim countries; they will have to remove apprehension from the hearts of the Muslims to make the US and the rest of the world peaceful. Bringing peace in the world with the help of wars did not help, they already tried the military solution in a few countries and the consequences are clear to all of us; after billions of dollars spent and millions of humans injured and killed and their livelihoods destroyed, the US and its allies were not able to secure their interests. The US must learn the lesson that the rest of the world will not sit with folded arms and not react as they do on destroying and plundering around the world; and if they meant any good, they should know that destroying a country is not always essential to build that country; it can be built without destroying.
This time, it would be better for them to try the peaceful way! If the US and the UN are really interested in bringing peace in the world, they should try to solve their issues with the Muslim world on equal standing, respecting their sovereignty; help them where they need your help, and don’t help them where they don’t need you! Try to take apprehensions out of their hearts, and if you want real friends around the world, make them on hope, trust and peace.
Atiq Durrani is an IT professional and student of Mass Communication. Can be reached at atiq.pkkh@gmail.comand tweets at @SunnyDurrani738