A Muslim force for Iraq?

PRESIDENT Pervez Musharraf has revived the idea of a Muslim force for Iraq, even though it was first floated as far back as 2004 by the US but was dropped because of lack of support from the Arab-Islamic world. Addressing the Islamic Foreign Ministers’ conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, the president said a Muslim force could be inducted into Iraq under the auspices of the UN after “foreign interference” stopped, though the president did not specify who was interfering in Iraq’s affairs. The issue in Iraq is complex and needs more than the idea of a Muslim peacekeeping force to solve it. There are also historical reasons why Iraqis would not accept a Muslim force even from some of its neighbours. The people of Iraq and the Arab world in general were under Seljuk, Mamluk, Ottoman and other Turkish dynasties for nearly a thousand years following the murder of Abbasid Caliph Mutawakkil by Turkish mercenaries in 861 and do not have very fond memories of it. In the case of Iran, it was the other way round. With Iraq especially, Iran’s relationship has been adversarial, worsened by the 10-year war following Iran’s Islamic revolution. For that reason, a Muslim force must leave out these two of Iraq’s neighbours. However, the issue is more than the force’s composition.

When the idea was first mooted by America in 2004, the situation was far less grim than it is now. The death last June of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the head of Iraq’s Al Qaeda chapter, has in no way lowered the level of insurgency, for the resistance has acquired a new ferocity. The American fatality figure has reached 3,336, though unofficial American websites give a higher figure. If one adds to it the number of the injured, those who fell ill during combat and the number of US soldiers needing psychiatric treatment, the total US casualties would cross the 50,000 figure. The violence is now multidimensional: there are focussed attacks on the US-led forces and there is sectarian strife – something new in Iraq. The result is that the number of Iraqi refugees abroad and those displaced within the country is over two million. Worse still, the Bush administration still does not have a clear-cut exit strategy. It has turned a deaf ear to the Iraq Study Group’s recommendation for “engaging” Syria and Iran but has, instead, sent more troops to the country. While President George Bush is furious with the Democrat-dominated Congress for money bills laying down a deadline for the troops to withdraw, he himself has not given any indication of precisely when he thinks the situation in Iraq will improve to a point where it will be possible for the US-led troops to withdraw and hand power over to the Iraqi government.

In this scenario, a Muslim force can serve little purpose. In fact, given the mood the Iraqis are displaying, such a force will suffer heavy casualties without restoring peace in the country. A Muslim force can be formed and deployed in Iraq only if all Iraqi factions unite in making an appeal to the Organisation of Islamic Conference for sending in their peacekeepers. However, under the kind of situation that exists, the Iraqis have not even asked the Arab League for such a peacekeeping force. For that reason a Muslim force stands no chance of coming into being and putting an end to the Iraqi people’s misery.

Peshawar suicide bombing

MOMENTS of respite are becoming harder to come by in these troubled times. With the country, and particularly Karachi, still reeling from the savagery of May 12, the death and mayhem in Peshawar on Tuesday dealt a fresh blow to peace and stability in the country. The blast at the Marhaba restaurant was the ninth suicide attack in less than five months and the third in the NWFP capital in 2007. Suicide missions across the country have so far claimed at least 88 lives this year and left nearly 230 injured. The attacker’s motives are still being debated, the dominant theory being that the restaurant was targeted because it was owned by an Afghan Uzbek who publicly supported Abdur Rashid Dostum, the warlord from Mazar-e-Sharif who is now allied with President Hamid Karzai. Dostum currently holds the largely honorific post of chief of staff to the commander of Afghanistan’s armed forces, and boasted earlier this month that he could “defeat and break the back” of the Taliban in six months. All that Mr Karzai had to do, he said, was give him the go-ahead and he would do the rest.

Seen against this background, Tuesday’s attack may well have been carried out by the Taliban or their Pakistani counterparts. There is also the possibility that it could be connected to the recent killing of top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah by Nato forces in Afghanistan, though the government has been quick to discount this theory. Instead, the NWFP police chief and the interior ministry have linked the incident to the wider geopolitical situation and the fight against militants operating from Afghanistan and the Waziristan region. This too is not implausible but the factual position can only be ascertained after thorough investigation and intelligence gathering. Unfortunately, the track record of the authorities is woefully weak in this respect. The brains behind such attacks in the recent past are yet to be identified, and the past performance of the police and other agencies suggests that they may never be brought to book. This trend must be reversed if peace is to be restored.

Bane of bonded labour

WHILE steps are being taken to root out bonded labour in the country, as the case of 11 brick kiln workers who were recently liberated by a court in the NWFP demonstrates, it is tragic that slavery of this kind still holds about two million people in thrall all over Pakistan. This state of affairs exists despite the presence of legislation that forbids bonded labour and cancels all debts that the labourer may owe to landlords or employers. The problem lies in a defective system of justice and the slow implementation of the law, often the result of poor vigilance by official authorities and their reluctance to take on those who perpetuate the system, owing to their influence and clout with the law-enforcers. At this rate, it will be many years before bonded labour becomes a thing of the past. This is so because those in servitude are ignorant and accept their fate for lack of awareness or options. It is the latter that the government must make available to bonded labourers if it wants them to take a stand against their exploitative oppressors.

This would involve a long-term approach where issues such as poverty and land reforms have to be tackled. However, there are more immediate solutions to reduce the numbers of those in bondage. These include increasing government inspections of brick kilns and mines where bonded labour is rampant, and penalising those who are in contravention of the law by forcing ‘indebted’ employees to work under appalling conditions. But for any measure to work, what is required is a strong political will which so far seems to have eluded the government, especially on matters of social injustice. Indeed, no headway can be made unless the government acts resolutely to implement the law regarding bonded labour.

Another OIC non-event

THERE it is. Another “Oh I see jamboree” is taking place in Islamabad. We just had a political circus rally the other day in the same city coinciding with the Karachi carnage. Pakistan is now privileged to be hosting the 34th edition of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM), an annual non-event that takes place year after year with an omnibus agenda and a host of boiler plate resolutions with no practical relevance to the future of the Muslim world.

More of the same old statements, resolutions and declarations will bring no change to the beleaguered Muslim world. It is a repeat of the déjà vu conferences which are always rich in rhetoric and eloquence but empty in substance. The only difference this time was the sombre environment in which the Islamic foreign ministers were meeting. The host country had just gone through the worst bloodbath of its history in its largest city, Karachi.

The annual meeting dubbed the “session of peace, progress and harmony” (nobody knows for whom) took place under unprecedented security arrangements scaring most the delegates as to the wisdom of their presence in the capital of a country which everyone now finds to be constantly “in the line of fire.” They must have been wondering if they had made the correct decision in risking their lives.

But what surprises every one is that an inter-state meeting of this size and level involving more than 600 delegates and observers should be taking place in Islamabad at a time when a near civil war is going in different parts of the country. Karachi has not yet recovered from the May 12 barbarity which everyone saw live on television.

Ironically, as Musharraf was delivering his inaugural address at the opening of the ICFM in Islamabad, Peshawar, only a couple of hours away from the venue of the meeting was rocked with a suicidal attack killing more than 40 innocent persons. In Islamabad itself, besides the bizarre drama of Jamia Hafsa continuing unabated, a senior official of Pakistan’s Supreme Court was targeted in a case of cold-blooded murder by unknown persons in the wee hours a day earlier.

Even if the host government was reluctant for selfish reasons not to have rescheduled the event for security reasons or as a matter concern over the seriousness of the situation, at least the participating delegates and their governments should not have been oblivious of the risks and uncertainties involved in coming to Pakistan at this critical and convulsive moment of its on-going crises.

In his inaugural address at the opening of the Islamic foreign ministers conference, President General Musharraf spoke of the issues confronting the Muslim world including “internal conflicts, socio-economic disparity and Islamophobia” and called for collective measures to improve the situation. He also acknowledged the failures and frustrations of the Muslim world which he was candid enough to attribute to “internal weaknesses and vulnerabilities”.

But General Musharraf did not specify who would mend this situation, nor did he elaborate how to project Islam in its true perspective. At least the OIC has no credentials or capacity to bring any change to the beleaguered Muslim world which remains alien to peace, democracy, science and technology, socio-economic development, rule of law, equality, women’s empowerment, tolerance, harmony, moderation, fraternity and brotherhood. His own country is perhaps the archetypal example of this “core deficiency syndrome.”

Woefully, the Muslim world today represents the tragic story of Medusa, the ill-piloted French naval ship in the 19th century that ran aground because of its captain’s blunders and his dependence on others for navigational guidance, leaving behind a sordid tale of helplessness, death and desperation. The Medusa wreck is still out there, lying stuck on the Arguin bank of the West African coast, and isn’t going anywhere. The Muslim world today is in no better shape although it is still floating. But because of its self-serving leaders like Medusa’s captain, Duroy de Chaumereys, it is also not going anywhere.

Today, representing one fifth of humanity as well as of the global land mass spreading over 57 countries, possessing 70 per cent of the world’s energy resources and 40 per cent of the world’s raw materials, the Muslim world should have been a global giant, economically as well as politically. Rich in everything but weak in all respects, it unfortunately is a non-consequential entity in today’s world with no role in global decision-making or in addressing its own problems.

Though some of them are sitting on the world’s largest oil and gas reserves, the majority of Muslim countries are among the poorest and most backward in the world. They have no bone, no muscle and whatever wealth they possess, is being exploited by the West. With the exception of a very few countries, they are all bankrupt politically with no institutions other than authoritarian rule of all sorts and styles.

They are averse to pluralistic democracy and are without an established tradition of systemic governance or institutional approach in their policies and priorities. If anything, the Muslim world can boast of the largest number and variety of dictatorships in the world. Again Pakistan happens to be a frontline runner in this category.

What aggravates this dismal scenario is the inability of the Muslim world to take care of its problems or to overcome its weaknesses. There is no unity of purpose in its responses to global challenges. Its leaders are too self-centred to reorder their political and strategic priorities, and remain averse to allowing institutional and attitudinal transformation of their societies into genuine pluralism and democracy.

The Muslim world’s socio-economic backwardness, its institutional bankruptcy, its political and intellectual aridity, its deficiency in knowledge, education and science and technology, its aversion to modernity and modernisation, and its growing servility to the West are all a dreary phenomena that cannot be blamed on the people who play no role whatsoever in the decision-making processes of their countries. Nor should we blame the West or the US for our crises and failures.

The leaders of the Muslim world and their governance patterns alone are at the root of their ailments. Ironically without exception, they are all at the mercy of the US for their political strength and survival, and are responsible for total subservience of their countries to the West. Their lands and resources remain under ‘protective’ military control of their masters, who are also the direct beneficiaries of their oil proceeds and investments.

Peace is the essence of Islam, but again, ironically, the Muslim nations have seen very little of it, especially after the Second World War. Conflict and violence are pervasive in the Muslim world. Some states are home to foreign military bases, while others are selflessly engaged in proxy wars on behalf of others and in some cases against their own people. The tragedies in Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Chechnya, Iraq and Afghanistan represent the continuing helplessness of the world’s Muslims.

Since 9/11, Islam itself is being demonised by its detractors with obsessive focus on the religion of individuals and groups accused of complicity or involvement in terrorist activities. Islam is being blamed for everything that goes wrong in any part of the world. With violence and extremism becoming anathema to the world’s high and mighty, Muslim freedom struggles of yesterday are now seen as the primary source of militancy and terrorism.

Global terrorism is now being used to justify military occupations and to curb the legitimate freedom struggles of Muslim peoples. Muslim issues remain unaddressed for decades. Palestine is tired and has given up. Iraq is still burning. Afghanistan has yet to breathe peace. Kashmir is devastated and stands disillusioned. Lebanon is bleeding. Pakistan is struggling as the ground zero of the global war on terror. Iran is on notice. The Muslim world could not be more chaotic and more helpless.By hosting the ICFM, Pakistan may have provided an opportunity to its participants to explore their own role in changing the direction of the times and reshaping the destiny of the Muslim world. But if history has any lessons, the salvation of the Muslim world does not lie with any inter-governmental organisation nor as suggested by Musharraf with any group of eminent persons or scholars and intellectuals nominated by their respective governments.

The OIC is merely an inter-governmental organisation and cannot be expected to do things that only governments of sovereign states can do. It has neither the credentials nor any operational capacity to be the panacea for the ills of its member-states. Though its ideological basis gives it a unique character, it remains seriously handicapped by the absence of regionality and complementarity in its geo-strategic, political and economic interests.

Things will not change unless the Muslim world fixes its fundamentals and puts its house in order. It must take control of its own destiny through unity, mutuality and cohesion within its ranks. Its wealth and resources should be used to build its own strength and for its own socio-economic well-being.

The key to reshaping the destiny of the Muslim world and to securing for it a bright, promising future lies in the political, economic and social stability and strength of individual Muslim nations. Only governments rooted in the will of the people, and sustained by stable and accountable institutions can lead the way to genuine and healthy transformation of their societies. Each one of them will have to revamp existing mindsets and opt for peace, progress and harmony through genuine democracy and good and accountable governance.

Perhaps for General Musharraf, charity must begin at home. He must in the first instance take care of Pakistan’s internal weaknesses and external vulnerabilities. His foremost challenge today is not what Pakistan can do for the renaissance of the Muslim world or for peace in the Middle East but what he should do to put out the fire at home and to serve his country’s national interests by safeguarding its sovereignty and independence.

He must restore peace and harmony within his own country through national reconciliation and mutual confidence-building, and resist any temptation or instigation for state retaliation or violence of any sorts or scale.

The writer is a former foreign secretary.