IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL

 

THE HAUNTING IMAGE OF BIN LADEN

 

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]

 

President Bush perhaps committed the greatest blunder not only of his carrier but also of the entire American history. Without making any judicial enquiry, ascertaining about the mishap of September 11, either through the judges of the Supreme Court of the USA or through the International court of Justice, he pinpointedly declared the name of Bin Laden and threw all the blame and accusation on him and his so-called Al-Qaida. He did it knowingly in a couple of hours of the occurrence of this tragedy and intentionally to hide the names of those who masterminded this episode and divert the attention of the innocent people of America and that of the world. Taliban and Mullah Omar’s names were added subsequently to make them scapegoats for the real culprits who might have been found sitting on the “same side”. As such, neither bin Laden could be found nor Mullah Omar. But in its wake, thousands of Afghanistan men, women and children have been killed and the infrastructure of that poor country has been totally destroyed and razed to the ground. The human history cannot produce a scene of oppression and tyranny worst than this horrible situation that now prevails in Afghanistan where there is no peace, no food, no water and security of life and honor of anyone including its American sponsored President Hamid Karzai.

 

The Poet Laureate of New Jersey, Amiri Baraka, had emphatically projected that why the 4000 Jews working in the World Trade center were conspicuously absent on that eventful date from the scene as if they might have “advanced knowledge” of the approaching shadow of certain death. He is subsequently found adamant in his assertion. It tells a lot of stories that otherwise are lying hidden behind the camouflaging by the White House.

 

Every nook and corner of Pakistan is being haunted by the combined strategic search of FBI-CIA- Pakistan security forces and many innocent people have been captured in the name of Al-Qaida, creating hate against the USA at the grass root level of Pakistan. The border, sensitive areas of Pakistan, adjacent to Afghanistan have been the special target of search and haunting military expeditions to trace out Bin Laden, Omar and Al-Qaida men, kill and eliminate them one way or the other. Islamic Madrassas are suspected around the country and every effort is now being made to sabotage their curriculum. America through its frantic search for Taliban and Bin laden in the Provinces of Balochistan and Frontier have unwittingly helped the emergence of Islamic Parties victorious in that region. The USA must have to blame itself, if Islam emerges as political entity in Pakistan or elsewhere in the world. The witch-hunting campaign against bin Laden is helping the Muslims to organize themselves energetically in different parts of the world. From Indonesia to Casablanca there is a surge of Muslim awakening behind the haunting image of Bin Laden. Thanks to American false and unimaginative propaganda stunt against Bin Laden that he may not be in existence anywhere anymore but the USA is insisting to perpetuate with that image in order to protect some “dark shadows of history” and prolong its so-called war against “terrorism” to capture the oil rich regions of the Muslim world and destroy the remnants of Islamic education, values and traditions in its wake.         

 

The USA and its so-called “intelligence agencies” are running like “hunting dogs” from pole to the post, after every hearsay, concocted stories about the presence of Bin Laden and his al-Qaida throughout the world with no result in the end. In spite of best efforts, American security people could not link up Iraq with Bin Laden and his Al-Qaidah. Only the other day, Prague has denied that the accused Mohammad Atta had seen the Iraqi intelligence officer.

 

 Anywhere, if anything happens, immediately it is linked up with Al-Qaidah, irrespective of the fact, whether it is on sea, land, or in the air or in big cities like Bali, Yemen, Karachi or Delhi. They have coined a new terminology of “sleeping cell” of Al-Qaida within its own innocent Muslim community of America. Thousands are being harassed, instigated and charged with criminal alliance with the haunting image of Bin laden. God forbid, the on-going shooting incidents around Washington/Virginia may one day be attributed to someone akin to Bin Laden or his Al-Qaida. President Bush must stop this process of witch-hunting lest the haunting image of Bil Laden might become “day-dreaming” or “nightmare’ for him and his entire team.           

 

The witch-hunting image of Bil Laden has reached or is fast approaching to the stage where the truth would be hardly traceable in human behavior, action and deeds or public dealings both at individual and collective levels. Propaganda mechanism, both print and electronic, is augmenting this dangerous trend by leaps and bounds day in and day out. The statesmanship of the leader of the world is touching the lowest ebb of hypocrisy, bankruptcy and fanaticism. Moral values and ethical standards have been made subservient to national interest and political expediencies. New terminologies are being coined to satisfy the personal whims and national arrogance to attain world domination by hook or by crook.  The propaganda war against the so-called “terrorism” has reached to the highest proportion of highhandedness and tyranny visible in shameless attacks on human rights and national dignities both at home and abroad. The fundamental human rights that USA champions, UN guarantees and human society still values a lot are being violated every now and then on the flimsy grounds of self-pronounced and self-propelled “fight against terrorism”, condemning the countries as “axis of evils”. The mono-superpower is bent upon to impose the terror of preemptive attack on innocent men, women and children of the countries that do not tow the lines of the USA, just to protect her “police agent” in the Middle East and its un-ending “state terrorism”.

 

This tragedy becomes most heinous when the country that has championed the cause of the so-called war against “terrorism” does not even know the meaning, concept and definition of this word [“terrorism”] and never bothered to define as what can and should be termed as “terrorism”. Bil-Laden has become an accusative language and is hurled upon anyone who manifests to be the Muslim and following the tenets of Islam meticulously. In this situation, the saner elements of the USA must come forward and save its leadership that is suffering with a kind of “insanity” associated with haunting images that are created to cover blatant lies and its parrot-like repetition form all government agencies, Radio-TV and security services. Unfortunately, it is spoiling the fare image of the USA as a mighty power, degrading and behaving like a “rouge country” of the third world. History will definitely give its verdict soon: who is the rouge – Iran-Iraq-North Korea or the country that is running after only the haunting images of bil-Laden? 

 

Shamim A Siddiqi

Dated October 22, 2002