Abdul Rashid Agwan, the author of “Islam in 21st Century: The Dynamics of Change of Future-making”, has blown the myth ascribing that “all Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims”. Here are some excerpts from his thought-provoking book. (Editor)
As an international political tactics, terrorism is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, the genesis of this word dates back to the French Revolution of 1789 where the label (terrorisme) was used by the rulers to unleash ‘Reign of Terror’ on resisting groups, whereby denoting the consequence of state terrorism…
In USA, Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded by Nathan B. Forrest, remains the most dreaded terrorist group since 1865. Its last reported offense was in 1981 when two of its members lynched Michael Donald, a young black, near his home in Alabama. Puerto Rican nationalists, Black Liberation Army, Sunday Bombers, Black September, Jewish Defense League and some Christian extremists groups emerged in USA in different spells of time and a few of them are still active….. Around one hundred events of terrorist acts have been noted in the American history from 1800 to 2011 by Wikipedia, which killed or harmed innocent people…
Ireland remains one of the leading countries in Europe where terrorism has been a rampant phenomenon. Founded in 1968, Irish Republican Army (IRA) had been spearheading terrorist attacks for pressing the demand for liberation of North Ireland from the United Kingdom. The IRA made an announcement in 2005 regarding its withdrawal of armed campaigns and opting to democratic mobilization for its aims. Japanese Red Army is a militant group established in 1971 for overthrowing the pro-American government and establishing a revolutionary rule In Japan and it remained active till 1988 and organized terrorist attacks in different parts of the world including the homeland. Although it has been out-rightly ignored, the Red Army claimed that it was behind the 9/11 air crash.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) had been active in Sri Lanka and the south India since 1976 and till recently. There are several terrorist outfits in European countries mainly operated by Neo-Nazis. In the July 1, 2013 issue of Time magazine, the cover page story was captioned as “The Face of Buddhist Terror” and was stated that Buddhism is “a faith famous for its pacifism and tolerance. But in several of Asia’s Buddhist-majority nations, monks are inciting bigotry and violence — mostly against Muslims.”…
Swaminathan S. Ankklesaria Aiyar, an independent researcher and columnist, says in his well circulated article, “In sum, terrorism is certainly not a Muslim monopoly.”… Dalia Mogahed, Chairman and CEO of Washington D.C.-based Mogahed Consulting, says, “Since 1995, 56 percent of domestic terrorist attacks and plots (in USA) have been perpetrated by right-wing extremists, 30 percent by eco-terrorists, and 12 percent by Muslim radicals.” …
Danio, an independent researcher and blogger, gathered extensive data regarding terrorist events in USA and Europe and derived that Muslims are only insignificantly responsible for terrorist acts there. He says “only 6% of terrorist attacks on US soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists. The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups).” He also collated data regarding terrorist events in Europe while relying on EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report for 2007, 2008 and 2009. He concludes, “The results are stark, and prove decisively that not all terrorists are Muslims. In fact, a whopping 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe were by non-Muslim groups; a good 84.8% of attacks were from separatist groups completely unrelated to Islam. Leftist groups accounted for over sixteen times as much terrorism as radical Islamic groups. Only a measly 0.4% of terrorist attacks from 2007 to 2009 could be attributed to extremist Muslims.”
He went on to write that the report of 2006 includes total 498 events; of which, only one in Germany could be alleged as ‘Islamist’, the major blame went to the European separatist groups who were found involved in as many as 424 terrorist incidents. In 2007, the number of total such events recorded in the report to be 583, of which only the one in Denmark could be labeled as ‘Islamist’. The following year there was only one ‘Islamist attack’ in the UK in 2008 which is almost negligible among the total 515 incidents in the continent.
The Europol Report 2009 infers, “Islamist terrorism is still perceived as being the biggest threat worldwide, despite the fact that the EU only faced one Islamist terrorist attack in 2008. This bomb attack took place in the UK…Separatist terrorism remains the terrorism area which affects the EU most. This includes Basque separatist terrorism in Spain and France, and Corsican terrorism in France…Past contacts between ETA and the FARC illustrate the fact that also separatist terrorist organizations seek cooperation partners outside the EU on the basis of common interests. In the UK, dissident Irish republican groups, principally the RIRA and the CIRA, and other paramilitary groups may continue to engage in crime and violence.” …
In India, a terrorism-ridden country, around 175 organizations have been proscribed under anti-terrorism measures; however, only 45 of them have Muslim recruits and only 5 are allegedly working outside Jammu & Kashmir. In the majority of terrorism-related cases against the charge-sheeted Muslim youths, the courts have found allegations to be unsubstantiated, false and sometimes concocted. The Supreme Court of India freed 6 innocent Muslim youths from terrorism charges in May 2014, while criticizing the role of then the home minister of Gujarat state in the matter….
One important question, which has been intermittently raised during investigations, debates and anti-terrorism government measures, is as to who gains from of the terrorist acts. Rodger Roots of Fair Procedure Initiative deals with the question in detail in the context of 9/11 episode. He writes, “The reality that governments are major beneficiaries of terrorist acts is tacitly recognized by most commentators. During the 2004 US Presidential campaign, the campaign advisors were occasionally quoted as saying that the threat of impending terrorist attacks would result in favorable election returns for sitting Republican officeholders. Former US Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, revealed in a 2009 book that he had felt pressure to raise America’s official terrorist threat level prior to the 2004 elections for the benefit of the George W. Bush reelection campaign.” He further notes, “People who live in terrorized societies are victimized twice; first, when they are attacked by terrorists, and then, when they are subjected to increased controls, surveillance and regulation by their governments.” Prior to some elections, terrorist events had been noted in many countries, such as in Israel, Sweden, France, UK, India, Pakistan, etc, as if terrorists were supporting this or that party and were trying to indirectly improve its prospects at the Hustings, through the heinous acts…..
The presumed terrorist attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001 was carried out just when the ruling party was cornered in the lower house on the issue of coffin scandal and the situation abruptly changed in favor of it thereafter, thanks to the intervention of some mysterious terrorists. This also gave the government an opportunity to enact a draconian law ‘POTA’ similar to the Patriotic Act in USA, and activities of some Muslim organizations were outlawed on the pretext. Recently, the Indian media carried the statement of an under-secretary of Home Ministry, R.V.S. Mani, who claimed that the Parliament terror attack was a set up “with the objective of strengthening the counter-terror legislation.” When France and Australia were not prepared to join the anti-Afghan war, some terrorist events took place while harming the interests of these countries and which ultimately made these countries to join the allied forces. Thus, many a time, terrorist events actually help the supposed adversaries in a miraculous way, and thus often spawn the doubt: “Who are behind them?”
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[To know more about the book, the website islamin21stcentury.com may be visited]
Those Who brought the evil war in Muslim areas may ALLAH SWT punish them