SILVER LININGFighting terror, fighting hatred ideology [Archives:2007/1066/Opinion]

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July 9 2007

Mohammed Al-Qadhi
The terrorist attack against the Spanish tourists last week has shown that the cozy marriage between the regime and al-Qaeda has failed to bring about a sort of peace in the country. The political regime in Yemen adopted a different novel approach in its dealing with al-Qaeda operatives in which the second party commits itself to abiding by law and order, be faithful to the rulers, and then are free to promote their ideology of hatred and killing. So many people even Westerners were impressed by and willing to hear about the dialogue anecdote between the government and al-Qaeda members through some clerics. Yemen's government shrugged its shoulders in pride that it could even send experts to other countries to promote its experience in countering terrorism via theological and intellectual debate.

I am not personally against the principle of dialogue as a means of sorting out disputes and differences. However, it is really difficult to ask jailed people to be your equal partners in such kinds of exercises. Of course, such people in jails are forced to show commitment so as to get free. The result is that some of them were found fighting in Iraq or Lebanon. The agreement with the authorities entailed that they commit themselves to law and obey the rulers, no more. There is no provision in the agreement that says they should denounce terrorism acts and the killing of people whosoever. The political regime should stop using such militants as a fuel in its dispute either with the opposition parties or other fanatic religious groups like al-Houthis. Using religion in such kinds of political fights is really devastating and what is happening in Sa'ada is a clear example.

The government mobilized efforts to condemn and protest this hateful act. This is fine. But, it is not enough to condemn or denounce. Some went to argue this was meant to damage or tarnish the image of Islam and Muslims. The image is already damaged and all people, mainly the government, should have the guts to say they are partially responsible for such crimes. Such mentalities having such extremist ideologies are operating freely and are running educational institutions and breeding such suicide bombers. These schools are getting more support and facilities than the public universities or schools. They do keep doing all this and then question the roots of terrorism.

To drive the point home, fighting terrorism should really start with cracking down such kind of curriculum and teachings that promote religious fanaticism and the outcome is such terrorist operations that hit the interests of all Yemenis without exclusion. This time I noticed that the reaction of the public was completely different; people were very angry with the heinous crime of killing people in Marib for the terrorist act has not got any justifications at all.

Mohammed Al-Qadhi ([email protected]) is a Yemeni journalist and columnist.
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