“In India, Prime Minister Modi’s government has moved to
strip citizenship from millions of Muslims…Islamohobia is global in scope…and that’s
why I have introduced this bill to create a special envoy for monitoring and
combating Islamophobia” – Rep. Ilhan Omar, Speech in US House of
Representatives, 14th December 2021
We may wonder why we care about what is happening in the US
Congress. Americans can do whatever they feel best for their country.
Absolutely right and my blog is called IndicVoices, not AmericanVoices. I
wouldn’t have any interest writing about an American legislation unless it had
some impact on us. There wouldn’t have been any problem if this law was meant
to deal with Islamophobia in America. Though there are many other phobias that
exist in this land, but who am I to comment if Americans decide that Islamophobia
is the biggest crisis for them. The problem is this domestic law is created to
police on other nations! You can get it directly in its title. Combating
‘International’ Islamophobia Act. Seriously! When will this country stop
meddling in the internal affairs of other nations?
The Act
The law requires the Department of State to set up an office
to monitor and combat Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement in foreign
countries. It should be noted that the main force behind this law, Rep. Ilhan
Omar is known for her anti-Semitic views and Rep. Rashida Tlaib is known for
her indirect support towards Hamas, a declared terrorist organization. Let’s look at some
portions from this act. I am highlighting some texts for your attention.
The Secretary of State shall establish within the
Department of State an Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia (in this
section referred to as the ‘Office’).
Upon establishment, the Office shall assume primary
responsibility for the following:
Monitoring and combating acts of Islamophobia and
Islamophobic incitement that
occur in foreign countries.
The law also requires the Department of State annual report to have details related to Islamophobia around the world. Some of the details are as follows:
(A) acts of physical violence against, or harassment of, Muslim
people, and acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim community
institutions, including schools, mosques, and cemeteries;
(B) instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that
attempt to justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence against
Muslim people;
(C) the actions, if any, taken by the government of the country to
respond to such violence and attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or
incitement;
(D) the actions taken by such government to enact and enforce laws
relating to the protection of the right to religious freedom of Muslim people;
(E) the efforts of such government to promote anti-bias
and tolerance education;
and
(F) any instances of forced labor, reeducation, or the
presence of concentration camps, such as those targeting the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang
Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China;
If this Act is passed in the Senate, it will allow the US to
enter into our house, as a matter of fact, anyone’s house and poke into our
internal matters. While passing this act, did the Representatives forget that
USA is a secular state? What about persecutions of non-Muslims? America already
has USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) to
lecture other countries on religious freedom. Now this law is made specific for
a single religion. Clearly this law intends to impose sanctions on foreign countries on
the pretext of Islamophobic activities, as determined by USA.
So, what has really happened? Unlike India where Prime
Minister swear in by laying hand on the Constitution, USA is a country where
majority of the Presidents, including the current one, took oath on the Bible.
So, is this another gospel of secularism coming from the big brother?
Eye on China
We need to understand that, in recent times, American
foreign and military policies are more and more directed towards China. All of
the following events point in that direction – 1) creation of QUAD (India, USA,
Japan, Australia), 2) creation of AUKUS (Australia, UK, USA) and transferring
technology to Australia to build nuclear submarines, 3) sudden peace process in
Middle-East involving Israel and Arab nations, 4) including India in a summit
(unofficially called West-Asian QUAD) with USA, Israel and UAE, and finally 5) abrupt
withdrawal from Afghanistan. America is withdrawing from all other fronts
including long-attached Middle-East to focus all of its energy solely towards
China. USA along with its core allies backed out from 2022 Winter Olympics
hosted by China on the pretext of China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. A
statement has been issued from the White House and it has been stated that the US
is withdrawing from the Olympics due to “ongoing genocide and crimes against
humanity in Xinjiang” concerning Uyghur Muslims “and other human rights abuses”.
Again, in case of this Act, President Biden gave his support.
We Indians rejoiced when we were included in QUAD as we
always seek Western acceptance and similarly, we may cheer seeing phrases like
‘People’s Republic of China’ and ‘Uyghurs in the Xinjiang’ in this Act. But we
should remember that this Act which seems to be directed against China right
now, can also be used against us one day. Ms. Omar made it pretty clear in her
speech by taking India’s name there. By the way, it was a blatant lie. No
Muslim lost citizenship. She needs to read the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019
herself or take some expert help. The history of Islam in the sub-continent
followed by the painful partition of our motherland puts relationship of
Muslims with non-Muslims in a tricky situation in this region. All Indians,
irrespective of their religions, try their best to leave aside all the
differences. But still problems arise and sometime it gets out of control. This
Act (yet to be a law) will put India in vulnerable position in such situations
and Uncle Sam can arm-twist India the way it wants.
China knows how to stand on your own, and India better learns
this one thing from them. Otherwise, we will either
be threatened of sanctions for buying S-400 from Russia or will be forced to
sever ties with Iran just because big brother will get offended.
Islam – A Useful Tool for the West
West, especially United States of America, has a very
interesting case of relationship with Islam. We don’t need to go back to the
time of Crusade for that. We just need to look at the American involvement in the
recent times in the middle-east, Afghanistan and in our beloved Pakistan to
understand it.
When pro-communist PDPA (People’s Democratic Party of
Afghanistan) overthrew erstwhile Afghan monarch Zahir Shah’s cousin Mohammad
Daud’s government on 27th April 1978, Soviet Union’s influence
started increasing in Afghanistan. This event is known as ‘Saur (April)
Revolution’. During the time of Daud itself, many Islamists fled to Pakistan
due to Daud’s clamp on them. These Islamists were no friend of socialist and
communist PDPA either. A treaty of friendship was signed between Afghanistan and
the Soviet Union in December 1978. USA became more and more concerned with the
rise of this pro-Soviet group. Islamist groups faced severe flak from this new
government, probably more than Daud’s time. PDPA brought in Soviet style modern
reform programs (e.g. land reform, changing marriage laws, enhancing women’s
rights, abolishing usuary that impacted powerful money lenders) that angered
conservative Islamists further. Many militant groups were established within
Pakistan and mountains of Afghanistan to fight against the government. Pakistan
under President Gen. Zia-ul-Haq provided all sorts of direct support to these
groups with safe refuge, training, money and arms. USA supported them
indirectly. Don’t forget that radically Islamized Pakistan under the new
President was the closest ally of USA in this region. Afghanistan government, failing
to counter the insurgency and unable to control the situation politically, brought in direct Soviet intervention. Soviet troops moved into Afghanistan on Christmas Eve
of 1979 to take control of the situation by military force, similar to what USA
did in Vietnam. This point onwards USA intervention, especially under President
Regan, became direct. Afghanistan became the victim of war between two
superpowers.
The issue here is something different. USA, along with its
traditional allies like UK, sided with the radical Islamist groups (called the Mujahideen)
in this region from the beginning to counter Soviet force. The United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) paid the University of Nebraska,
Omaha $5.1 million between 1984-1994 to develop and design textbooks to promote
jihad. New Education Policy of 1979 in Pakistan changed this country and
regions around it forever. 5000 new mosque schools were established and a new
curriculum was implemented with emphasis on jihad and Islamization. The
message of jihad was tailored to target communists. Money, arms and
Islamic literature were supplied to the madrasas. Overall, $13 million
worth of such radicalized text books were supplied to Pakistani schools and
Afghani refugee camps. Other Islamic countries in the Gulf region who were also
US allies provided fund for this cause.
Other than the Islamization, another crime took place during
this time. That was promoting Opium trade to fund the anti-Soviet campaign.
Illegal opium cultivation and then smuggling the heroin produced from it became
a major source of revenue for the Mujahideen. New heroin refineries were setup using
the aid received from CIA. Soviet Union alleged that CIA agents were helping to
smuggle the heroin out of Afghanistan to raise money and weaken Soviet Union by
getting people addicted there. Later Taliban took control of this business.
Heroin smuggling is still the biggest source of revenue ($416 million in 2020)
for Taliban and today 85% of opium is produced in Afghanistan. USA got out of
it by winning this proxy war and overseeing the collapse of Soviet Union. But,
as usual, sidekicks always get the brunt when the master leaves. Pakistan’s
economy could never recover from it. Islamist terrorism became their only
viable profession. In 1979 Pakistan had no heroin addicts, in 1980 Pakistan had
5,000 heroin addicts, and by 1985, according to official Pakistan government
statistics, Pakistan had 1.2 million heroin addicts, the largest heroin addict
population in the world.
America’s love-hate relationship with Islam does not end
there. American meddling in Iran caused an uprising there around the same time
in 1979 with the rise of another radical Islamist, Ayatollah Khomeini. West
loves to preach the world on democracy, human rights and individual freedom.
But its allies in the middle-east are notorious in that respect. Records of
human rights in some of those countries, mostly ruled by monarchs with no sign
of democracy, are abysmal to say the least. I would love to see USA passing
some Acts for non-Muslims to practice their religion freely in some of those
countries! I know it will never happen because Islam was just useful tool in
the past, and now it is Islamophobia.
Final Thoughts
I sincerely hope that this Act will not be passed in the
Senate. Nevertheless, it already gave the indication that America will not shy
away to use whatever it takes to keep its control over the world affairs. How
would Americans feel if Indian parliament passes a domestic law to monitor
lives and treatment of black African-Americans in the USA? How would they feel
if India tries to block American businesses to work in India with excuse of
violence on black Americans there? Definitely it will not be a nice experience.
Exactly, that is how we feel now.
References:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5665
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/HR-5665-SAP.pdf
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