Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
03
May 2019
Jihad Opportunity or
Terrorism Problem?
Morning’s mail led me to the Sri Lanka Campaign article at https://www.srilankacampaign.org/urgent-appeal-for-action-persecution-of-refugees-in-sri-lanka/
As per this article [“The people in Pakistan attacked us and say
we’re not Muslims…. Then in Sri Lanka, people attack us because they say we are
Muslims.”
Those were the words of 58-year old Tariq Ahmed, an
Ahmadiyya man from Pakistan, who until recently had been living in the town of
Negombo, Sri Lanka, having fled religious persecution in his home country. He
is now one of over a thousand refugees and asylum seekers to have been hounded
out of their homes by violent mobs seeking ‘revenge’ against members of the
Muslim community in response to the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka.]
Pakistan
became a ‘Muslim Only’ country despite
Gandhi’s struggle to not divide India. As I often say in my management lessons –
I would rather be a small part of a large institution than a big part of a
small institution. Jinnah wanted to be
the big boss of small Pakistan than be a small boss of part of big India.
The
accepted laws of physics discovered by Newton include the following:
[When
one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts
a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body. ]
Since this has stood the test of time and distance – one could take it to be
true. Our work values likewise produce equal and opposite results – even though
not of the returns is visible – the results
happen as per the science of work. The invisible return is stored as force and
Energy. In summary the cost or the benefit
is made up of the Seen, the Known and Energy.
One
who needs to see is at the primary level. One who knows is usually
intellectually driven and capable to developing middle level systems. One who
has Energy – is Universal. When Pakistan separated from India – it was due to
primary level operation. Jinnah and followers failed to attribute credit to
Gandhi and others for their liberation from British rule. Likewise Sri
Lankans/Ceylonese. Such separatists fear diversity in the territories within their control.
I
am not surprised to learn about Ahmadiyya Muslims being alienated in Pakistan,
because that is what Tamil Separatists did to Tamil speaking Muslims and also
Western looking Tamils like myself who are recognized at far lower level than
those who were/are close to militant
leaders. One lady in Vavuniya said that when her husband was asked by the rebel
groups to queue up to mark his attendance in Vanni – she said ‘That’s it. You inform your head office and
work from home’. Armed militancy did not lead to a successful completion
because – of this false positioning. The core power was the opportunity lost –
especially in education and in professional jobs in common areas like Colombo.
The outcomes that the armed war produced ought to show this order. To the extent they did not – the connection to
common purpose was absent and the militants fought for their own purposes –
some on group basis and others as individuals.
The
founder of Ahmadiyya sect was Indian. I find the following presentation of
value in appreciating the diversity of Islam:
[Unlike
most scholars of other Islamic sects, Ahmadi Muslims do not believe that any verses of the Quran abrogate or cancel
other verses. All Quranic verses have equal validity, in keeping with their
emphasis on the "unsurpassable beauty and unquestionable validity of the
Qur'ān". The harmonization of apparently incompatible rulings is resolved
through their juridical deflation in Ahmadī fiqh
/law, so that a ruling (considered to have applicability only to the
specific situation for which it was revealed), is effective not because it was revealed
last, but because it is most suited to the situation at hand.] Wikipedia
The parallel of that philosophy in resource management is ‘project basis’
instead of program – to complete and take the net value only into the big
picture.
The following principle helps us to identify with the reason why mainstream
Pakistani Muslims would not want Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan:
[The principal headquarters of the Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community is the city, town or place where the caliph resides. As such,
since the forced exile of the fourth caliph from Pakistan
in 1984, the official headquarters of the Community has been based in London, England.]
Even
though they were living in Sri Lanka – Ahmadiyya community’s capital was London. Sinhalese who ask Tamils to go to
Tamil Nadu – would naturally expect Muslims to go to their Religious
capitals. In the mind of the common Sri
Lankan this would be the Middle East for all Muslims. In the case of Ahmadiyya
community the thinking of the less literate Sri Lankan would be for them to go
back to Pakistan.
Ahmadi
Jihad is presented as follows by Wikipedia:
[According
to Ahmadi Muslim belief, Jihad can be divided into three categories: Jihad
al-Akbar (Greater Jihad) is
that against the self and refers to striving against one's low desires such as
anger, lust and hatred; Jihad al-Kabīr (Great Jihad) refers to the peaceful propagation of Islam, with
special emphasis on spreading the true message of Islam by the pen; Jihad
al-Asghar (Smaller Jihad) is an
armed struggle only to be resorted
to in self-defence under situations of extreme religious persecution whilst not
being able to follow one's fundamental religious beliefs, and even then only
under the direct instruction of the Caliph.]
As per the above theory Gandhi’s was
Greater Jihad. The Tamil militancy was Smaller Jihad to the extent it was in
defence under the strict instructions of educated leaders of the Common Tamil.
Beyond that it was Terrorism including against one’s own community. Likewise
the Government’s armed forces that went beyond defending and attacked. Now
after the Easter Sunday bombings – some leaders are elevating the status of the
LTTE – as if it was a ‘product within their custody’.
By eliminating the LTTE did the
Sri Lankan government acquire good karma or negative karma? To the extent LTTE
was made global – the karma also becomes global. Sri Lanka is no longer a small
country but is part of global activism against militancy. To the extent it
globalized the LTTE – the government had the responsibility to use weapons
under the strict supervision of global governance. Given that the war was more
than in defence – and without the supervision of the UN – it was Terrorism
against Tamils. Every Tamil who feels
Sri Lankan – has the ability to return the karma to the causer. They need not
be direct victims. If they feel Tamil – then they are entitled to and will be
able to return the karma of unlawful attacks.
There is a song by Tamil poet
Kannathasan – titled - ‘Ulagam piranthathu enakkaga’/the world is my oyster.
According to the lyrics – everything natural is happening for me. That is the
way a true owner thinks. Such an owner would have followed the path of Greater
Jihad like Jesus and Gandhi did. But one who is ‘given’ the position without
having developed commonness would possess the whole and separate her/himself
from other claimants due to lack of self-confidence. This was demonstrated by
the Sri Lankan President when he pleaded with the attackers ‘to leave his
country alone’. When I see the cleaning truck on Coogee beach early in the
morning – I thank the guy – as if he is doing it for me. It’s a difficult job
because of the hours – and hence my identity with the guy – to mentally
participate and share my Energy with her/him. To my mind, as per my experience
- it is most likely to be a migrant. Yesterday when someone
who has booked to stay with us wrote ‘I love Coogee Beach. It is the best in Sydney I think’ –
I felt happy as if it was my personal beach.
Similarly when Mr Sirisena pleaded I felt unhappy. On the one
hand he expressed confidence in the Sri Lankan forces as follows:
[President Sirisena expressed his gratitude to
the UNSG and the Under Secretary General for the support extended at this
difficult occasion and said called for assistance to curb terrorism. He said
that foreign expertise and other assistance are required. However, he clarified
that Sri Lankan forces are quite capable and said the country did not want foreign troops for these
operations.]
But if the Government did employ foreign troops and
foreign weapons – including from Pakistan – in the 2009 war against Tamils –
then it would need external help from wider world to eliminate and /or protect
against foreign elements. It is the kind of ‘premature freedom’ that robs
leaders including Prabhakaran and Rajapaksa – to become separatists and
therefore isolationists. The IS leader Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi who is reported to have
claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings was arrested after US invasion
of Iraq by Americans which would have seemed unlawful to his mind – because Americans
were foreigners. After being released – he became a jihadist.
This gradually expanded to Islamic Nation. It’s a
kind of revenge reaction to US invasion. To such a mind, UN would seem to be
the US nation. The Americans who killed Osama bin Laden would have become his
enemies. This leader’s connection to Osama bin Laden is presented as follows:
[Following the death of the founder and head of al-Qaeda, Osama bin
Laden, on 2 May 2011, in Abbottabad,
Pakistan, al-Baghdadi released a statement praising bin Laden and threatening
violent retaliation for his death. On 5 May 2011, al-Baghdadi claimed
responsibility for an attack in Hilla, 100 kilometres
(62 mi) south of Baghdad, that killed 24 policemen and wounded 72 others. On
15 August 2011, a wave of ISI suicide attacks beginning
in Mosul resulted
in 70 deaths. Shortly thereafter, in retaliation for bin Laden's death,
the ISI pledged on its website to carry out 100 attacks across Iraq featuring
various methods of attack, including raids, suicide attacks, roadside bombs and
small arms attacks in all cities and rural areas across the country.]
Pakistan thus became the Capital of this leader’s
nation. The gene-connection to Churches is confirmed as follows:
[On 25 January
2011, Indonesian terrorist Umar Patek was
arrested in Abbotobad. Patek, a member of the Jemaah
Islamiyah terrorist group, was wanted in connection with a
deadly series of church bombings in Indonesia
in 2000, and three attacks that killed 202 people in tourist
districts of Indonesia in what became known as the Bali bombings]
They all lead to Pakistan from whose government the
then Sri Lankan government purchased arms to kill militants. As per my belief –
if we recognize good in those who have passed on – we inherit their goodness.
If we recognize their bad qualities to promote ourselves and/or take credit for
their wins as ours – then we inherit those bad qualities.
The Sri Lankan government continued to claim victory
over ‘Terrorism by the LTTE’ even after its death. The latest is the promotion
of then Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
as president and his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa playing the role of President
which amounts to mutiny. In 2018 October when Mr Sirisena handed over the
leadership to his former boss Mahinda Rajapaksa – he invoked LTTE from the
grave. Once militancy / terrorism is unsupervised – it becomes common with
other like forces.
When the President’s government is supervised by the
President and it is seen to be so – the IS will go away – recognising Sri Lankan
armed forces to be their comrades.
When we know that we have no control over a group –
we need to become like them and connect to their truth and apply their own laws
on the basis of that truth – to protect ourselves from being misunderstood by
them. To my mind, the Bali bombings happened to hurt Australians due to
Australia’s partnership in the invasion
of Iraq. For my part – I frequently repent so that my Australia would be protected
from such natural disasters. If both sides are true to themselves as per their respective positions in their
worlds – what happens is natural disaster until we know otherwise through our
own reliable pathways.
Sri Lankan leaders need to repent on behalf of all
Sri Lankans who attacked someone else’s pathway to enjoyment of sovereignty. I
believe that it is by repenting for our side’s breaches – that I identify with
Jaffna’s protection.
