CRIMINAL AGENDA
Dr Suhaib Ashraf Bhat
Crime against humanity, an offense in international criminal law, adopted in the Charter of the International Military Tribunal (Nurnberg Charter), which tried surviving Nazi leaders in 1945, and was, in 1998, incorporated into the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
I am living in a world whose concepts are no longer clear to me. A world where the criminal walks free and the victim is called a terrorist. A world where killing a one-year-old kid is permissible. A world that has left me baffled about what is right and what is wrong. No one can believe that any person with any religion or any mercy in his heart would split a pregnant woman’s belly and take the infant out then kill it; kill children one by one in front of their parents; smash heads with axes; or, burn the living. Only a criminal with a heart harder than a stone which has no mercy would do such acts. It is not even possible for a sane person to believe that such a person is a Human. This is a fact that can’t be denied. Killing of innocent people in communal and sectarian violence is nothing new in any country. A majority of the perpetrators of these horrific crimes enjoyed political patronage and were aided by an indifferent law enforcement agency. The criminals escaped prosecution and punishment,
Crimes against humanity are criminal acts that are directed at an identifiable group of people. Genocide is an example of a crime against humanity. Crimes against humanity are criminal acts that target a group of people based on their religion, ethnicity, or some other trait, which is not a direct result of something that group has done. One of the most common crimes against humanity is genocide, which is the murder of a large portion of the population. Genocide is often either condoned, or carried out by the government. While history looks back to Nazi Germany for its example of crimes against humanity, the truth is, many modern conflicts see some combination of displacement, torture, sexual violence, and death against civilians. In fact, the number of civilian deaths in modern conflicts far exceeds that of armed combatants.
The brutality of violence committed against civilians sickens the rest of the world, as women are forced into sexual slavery, children are abducted and used as slaves; political rebels or dissenters are killed or imprisoned, Human rights defenders and put behind bar, tortured, and murdered. All this because the targeted people happen to be members of the “wrong” group. This may be due to their religious beliefs, ethnicity, social class, or political beliefs.
Those perpetrators had deviant ideologies, turned away from the values of humanity, never cared for the good of others, and acted in complete disregard to the devastating consequences of their deeds (such as terrorising people, maximising risk of foreign intervention, deteriorating the country’s reputation, and discouraging domestic investments, which require stability and security).
War:
From the time when i become to distinguish between good and bad, I am witness to it that whenever such kinds of conflicts rise, Muslims are the first to be blamed for. In my life i have witnessed the war in Afganistan, Palestine, Iraq, Syria and so on.
But if you want to judge Islam on the basis of the actions of some of its followers and adherents, then you must let us judge Christianity and Judaism based on the actions of some of the followers of these two religions too. How can it be said that Christianity is a religion of love when we see that the holy war (crusade) that was declared by the US president killing hundreds and thousands of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq?
Even if we accept that al-Qaeda has attacked peaceful citizens in the USA, and we overlook the reports and studies that suggest otherwise and point to the involvement of intelligence agencies, can that aggression be warded off by occupying other countries? If Afghanistan was occupied in order to strike at al-Qaeda in that country, then why was Iraq occupied, which led to the killing of thousands and widespread abuse of prisoners [Abu Ghraib], and put an end to the peace and security that existed before the occupation, so that rivers of blood could continue to flow because of the consequences of occupation?
How can it be said that Christianity is a religion of love, when we see complete support for the Zionist occupation of Muslim lands, the expulsion of millions from their homes, the imprisoning of hundreds of thousands, and the wholesale replacement of one people by another? Didn’t the Jews live in peace in Palestine and other Arab lands before the establishment of the state of Israel? So why this occupation? And why do Western countries continue to support this usurper state? Why does the Christian West support this state, and why was it given the Balfour declaration by Great Britain in order to kill Muslims and stir up the grave turmoil, trouble and war that resulted from the planting of the Zionist entity in the region?
What do you want us to tell you about the current situation that is filled with terrorism of Christian states and the blood they have on their hands, represented by the new conservatives in the USA, Britain and elsewhere?
Or do you want us to tell you about the armed Christian terrorist groups, of which there are more than forty-one, and more than twenty-two militias in the USA alone? If we were to list for you the operations that these groups have carried out throughout the world, it would take far too long. How about if we listed all the terrorist groups throughout the world, which are motivated by racist or religious beliefs, all of which have emerged from the Christian world?
Have you not heard about the Muslims in Central Africa, and the massacres and atrocities to which they are being subjected? Have you heard about the offenses being committed against the Muslims in Myanmar, before the eyes of the entire world? Do you want us to tell you about the past? The pages of history are filled with the Crusades in which the Muslim lands were occupied and their blood was shed for hundreds of years?
Do you want us to tell you about what happened to the Muslims in Spain and the atrocities carried out against them by the Inquisition?
We cannot accuse Christianity, in the form that Allah sent down to the Isa ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary – peace be upon him), of being a religion of terror or aggression; rather it was a religion of peace, as were the religions of all the Prophets. Rather terrorism occurs among some of the followers who distort the divinely revealed books, or follow their own criminal agenda, or get confused, so they begin to shed blood, transgress sacred limits and provoke wars throughout the world.
There is no religion which promotes hatred; it’s the backed agenda, weapons deal, warfare alliance, political motivated decisions which are responsible for crime against humanity. For sure, we can find a great deal of common ground if we agree to respect treaties and covenants, and restore people’s rights in any country that have long suffered oppression and occupation, and the plunder of resources, sometimes in the name of freedom and sometimes in the name of fighting terrorism. At that point we will be able to find a way to debate calmly and wisely.
It is the duty of everyone in this world — leaders, politicians, and citizens — to mobilise and combat such erroneous ideologies. Scholars and intellectuals have a particularly important role in refuting the malicious thought that seeks to plunge society into chaos and turmoil and to implant intimidation and insecurity into Human lives.
