More voices on Yemen’s week of deadly attacks Murders attack Yemen’s democracy [Archives:2003/01/Reportage]

Yemen and the international community were shaken last week by murders of prominent politician Jarallah Omar, leader of the YSP, and three American aid workers at Jibla Baptist Hospital.
Since time immemorial, the Islamic religion, the norms, and inherited values strongly condemn violence, extremism and terror.
All religions and celestial divinity also discards extremism, terror and the illegal killings of humans.
The Yemen Times has discussed this issue from different reviewing some point of view on terror and its negative effects on the Yemeni Muslim community.
The Yemen Times’ opinion is that to stop killing of innocents and terrorism is a national duty. New terror acts will pave the way for more problems in every corner of the country.
That can be detected after killing 3 US aid workers in Jibla and the political assassination of Jar Allah Omar.
On his part, the president of the republic says in his convalescence to the family of the deceased, “Jar Allah Omar’s killing is a terror and an unacceptable criminal act,”
The YSP Central Committee following the assassination of Jar Allah Omar says in its statement that it was a shameful act that signifies political bankruptcy.
The statement added that the bullets that were penetrated Jar Allah’s heart, want to kill noble values where he himself enjoyed.
Those bullets want to silence the voice of mind where he himself want to put an end to killings, violence, and respect for human rights.
The statement calls all the different political and social forces, the intellectual movements the honest, for condemning this heinous crime and pursuing the criminals.
The YSP statement has called its members to gather together under the same umbrella.
On its part, the Islah party, the second largest party in Yemen, in its statement during the third conference and says that the Jar Allah’s assassination is a heinous crime against the Islah members and a strong shock against each Islah member and the honest people in the country.
The secretary-general of the General Peoples Conference, Dr. Abdulkareem al-Eriani said that the murder of Jar Allah will be a motive for adopting democracy, pluralism and respect for freedom of opinion. Terror doesn’t know democracy and doesn’t believe in freedom and the freedom of intellect.
Dar Assalam Peace Organization for Anti-violence strongly condemn the murder of YSP secretary-general assistant, Jar Allah Omar and the US aid doctors.
The chairman of the Dar Assalam Peace Organization for Anti-violence says that his organization has issued a statement condemning the terror act against religion and constitution. “The society is in need of spreading the culture of tolerance and peace,” the statement said.
Some other opinions:
Mohammed Hussein al-Aidaroos, assistant general-secretary assistant of the General People Conference
“Terrorism in all its forms including the political assassination is at variance with democracy and its principles.
It is clear that the terror in all its forms where has Yemen has fallen prey to for a long period of time and after the September 11 terrorist attacks in US has taken different shapes and forms. This manifests itself where foreign interests have become the main targets by the terrorist groups.
These attempts aim primarily at weakening the national economy and spoil the democratic experience in Yemen. That is clearly seen when our country has been progressing rapidly and in an eye-catching manner.
It is natural for democratic principles and extremism not to meet. The democratic choice that has been adopted by the wise leadership of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has saved Yemen from political violence. He could achieve security and social dialogue and could also provide a comprehensive development for the whole nation.
A new form of war has been come into existence and this is known as intellectual extremism. This new conflict has been widely detected in the Arab and Muslim countries.
In our country many terrorist acts are ambiguous and the country itself has been negatively affected.”
Dr. Ali al-Fakeeh, economic researcher
“It has to be mentioned that Islam forbids the killing others and therefore, alternative punishment laws are enacted. This is for the sake of the security of the community.
Yemen’s difficult environment is characterized by revenge. Carrying weapons is another problem. A man has to be distinguished from other people by carrying weapons. We can say that the culture of terrorism and violence is the major motive behind the assassination of Jar Allah Omar.
Perhaps it has a political dimension or extremist group. Concerning the time and place of the Jar Allah’s assassination, it has been performed intentionally. TV cameras during the inaugural ceremony of the 1st conference of Islah have now added something new to the crime stage.
According to what has been reported by the news agencies, the killings of the US aid workers in Jibla is linked to the Jar Allah’s assassination.
Assassination attempts have begun during the post-unification period. A number of mujahedeen or Islamic militants who came back from Afghanistan were entrusted to conduct further assassinations against the innocents under the pretext of accusing them of infidelity.
Dr. Qasem Sallam, member of the committee of Yemen Ba’ath Party
More sorrow than in anger, the national movement in Yemen us shocked to hear the death of one of the heroes during the inaugural ceremony of the Islah party.
Some people believe that it has been politically motivated while others believe that murder of Jar Allah aims bring discord to the joint meeting parties.
But such reaction will not occur at all. That is the public opinion has a different deal with such issue in a very sensitive way. They reefer the case to the state for conducting investigations. This has been done with a view of disclosing facts to the public about the ulterior motives behind the murder.
In this context, I do emphasize that this heinous crime has been primarily directed against Yemen’s stability.
The second point is that the killing of the US aid workers in Jibla that took place in one of the hospitals is unacceptable. True believers totally reject such incidents where hospitals have become bloody scenes for crimes and assassinations. Doctors help heal people and take care of him.
In this regard, I think that the first incident in Sana’a is linked to the second one in Jiblah.
The ultimate aim of the two crimes are identical and meet in one point. It has been ruled out that the two bloody scenes have other motives in order to make Yemen a battlefield for spoiling the democratic experience during the upcoming parliamentary elections.
People have become more aware of this conspiracy whether it is administrated from outside or inside. The Yemeni people and the political forces have to unite together for the benefit of the right decision against committing crimes.
They have to encounter terror whatever its sources or forms are for the sake of protecting Yemen, its independence and its sovereignty.

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