It was the summer of 1510. Herat, a Sunni populated region currently in Afghanistan, came under the effective control of Shah Ismail, a Shiite ruler and the founder of Safavid Dynasty in Persia. Sheikh Zainuddin was the Sunni Imam of the central mosque of Herat – who dared to utter the names of four caliphs of Islam before the Jumma prayer of Friday – was beheaded in front of thousands of Muslims of the mosque by the Shiite soldiers of Shah Ismail.
The barbaric murder of James Foley by the Islamic State militants, beheading him in front of the whole world can be compared with the killing of Sheikh Zainuddin of Herat. It was nothing but a sheer example of what is happening in some parts of Iraq and Syria now. Annihilation of civilians from the rival camps has become an everyday matter in those troubled region. IS militants have shown the world to what extent they can go to reach their goal to establish an Islamic State in Iraq and Levant.
Moreover, reports suggested that the IS militants have been operating a brutal campaign against the Yazidis of Iraq since last month. Yazidis are known as a Kurdish ethno-religious community whose ancient religion is linked to Zoroastrianism, devotees of fire. Hundreds of members of this community were massacred, while thousands of them had to flee for life.
Prior to the annihilation of Yazidis, IS militants were seen murdering the members of Iraqi security forces who are loyal to the Shiite-dominated central government of Iraq formerly led by Shiite leader, Nouri al-Maliki. They have also made some advance to the Northern Iraq – a safe home to its Kurdish population.
According to the recent developments, IS has chosen a new way to punish their opponents and have cut supplies to the Shiite populated city of Amerli, which was seized by the IS militants two months ago and remained under their control. The military operation to reach the town began on August 30, when an alliance of Iraqi government forces, Shiite militias, and Kurdish Peshmerga attacked IS positions. On the other hand, the US government of Obama launched fresh air-strikes upon the IS insurgents to halt their advancement towards Northern Iraq.
However, the IS militants are not the only group who are wiping out the people of their rival camps. The Shiites, many other Sunni groups, and the Kurdish militants are also taking part in the annihilation of their opponents.
Last week more than 30 people were killed in three car bomb attacks in the Northern city of Kirkuk in Iraq. Kirkuk is a Kurdish populated region. Apparently, the bombings occurred to knock down some personnel of Kurdish forces of the region who were about to declare an independent Kurdistan cutting every single ties with Iraq forever. Though the assailants are yet to be traced, Sunnis are being blamed since the bombs exploded.
Some other developments that rocked the war-riddled territory include the shooting in a mosque of a Sunni populated village that left almost 70 people dead. According to the witnesses, two masked gunmen stormed into the mosque in the village of Beni Weis and fired on the worshipers with automatic weapons. The attackers are still to be traced, but the allegation is against the Shiites of the region. However, the shooting had followed the attempted assassination of a Shiite local leader.
The current situation of Iraq reminds us of the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, who once said: “Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.”
The sectarian clash sparked in Iraq between the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds of the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 has reached its peak this year. This year alone, thousands of Iraqis were subject to sectarian strife in Iraq. Every single religious group engaged themselves in the brutal eradication of the followers of the other religions or sects.
The sectarian violence-riddled Iraq can be compared with the Yugoslavia of 1980s. After the end of World War II, Yugoslavia was formed as a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Slovenia. While Josip Tito also known as Marshal Tito was in office, he ruled the six republics evenhandedly, compelling them to remain unified as a state.
But after his death, the ethnic conflicts between the inhabitants of Yugoslavia led the nation to a civil war – the Yugoslav War. Yugoslav War was a series of ethnic conflicts fought from 1991 to 1999 on the territory of former Yugoslavia.
Though Josip Tito was widely criticised as an authoritarian by the west, his successful economic and diplomatic policies as a ruler, during the days of Cold War, helped the Yugoslav republics to avoid any sort of ethnic violence for decades. A wide-ranging ethnic cleansing was launched in the land of Yugoslavia after the death of the “benevolent dictator” in 1980s. And all those genocides resulted in the breakup of the nation.
Now, the only question that is arising in the mind of the observers is if there is any future of a united Iraq. Though the answer will be given by time, many can quite easily predict that the answer is going to be a no. Iraq is badly in need of a benevolent dictator, otherwise the days of a unified Iraq is numbered.
