SILVER LININGJeopardy of Sada’a fight going religious [Archives:2007/1032/Opinion]

Two weeks ago, I talked about the mad clashes between the government troops and the al-Houthi rebels in the rugged mountains of Sada'a and the question of the expelled citizens of al-Ja'ashin in Ibb. I said that there is no justification for the armed rebellion. The government has to act to prevent any sort of such insurgences which would embroil the country into chaos and disorder. But, giving a religious motivation for the fight in Sada'a and the issuance of religious edicts or Fattwas, supporting the fight against al-Houthis is really a serious issue. We should not look for a religious background or justification for attacking the rebels; those people should not be cracked down because of their religious beliefs but because of being outlawed, using force against the state. These people are free to espouse any dogma or thought, but they are not free to break down law and order and lead an armed rebellion which would affect all the citizens.

I understand we do not need any religious edict just like that of the highly respected cleric Mohammed al-Amrani to back up the military operations going on in Sada'a, though he did not call them infidels as some other mosque sermons preachers.

We all do not blame the government for cracking down the rebels who refused all sorts of initiatives of reconciliation and ceasefire and are fighting for nonsensical reasons. This is because those people having sympathy with the rebels or sharing their religious thoughts would feel this fight is religiously motivated. Consequently, the religious gap would expand tremendously, causing many problems. We do not want to see the Iraq model staged here in Yemen, regardless of the differences in the situation of the two countries.

Last week, the capital has been a stage for armed confrontations between gunned tribesmen from Al Awadh tribe of al-Baidha and others from Sinhan, the clandestine tribe of the president of the country. Armed tribesmen from Sinhan killed the little child Taha al-Awadhi after they failed to kidnap him following a dispute with his father. The tribe of Al Awadh demanded the authorities to interfere and arrest the predators. The interior ministry gave deaf ears to their warnings that the law should be enforced by holding the killers accountable. Given the interior ministry failure to address their legitimate demand of arresting the predators, the result is that they took the law into their hands and wanted to take revenge. Then, the interior ministry interfered and arrested some people of the warring tribesmen.

The stand of the government towards the dilemma of the people of al-Ja'ashin in Ibb is really disgraceful. The people have been tenting in Sana'a in lookout for a solution to their problem caused by the influential Sheikh and member of the Shoura Council Mohammed Ahmed Mansur but to no avail. Even the parliament failed to investigate into the case. Does the government want these helpless people to take the law into their hands and carry suicide attacks against their oppressor?

By and large, if the government does not respect the law and deal with the people on an equal basis, the law of the jungle would dominate. I am afraid that the result might be more violence and probably more insurgences here and there. In fact, the people want to see a serious act on the part of the state to enforce law and order in many parts of the country as they see now in Sada'a.

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