Nearly, every day in one country or the other terrorists strike and innocent people are killed. Terrorism is global menace. It has become a major problem of this century. Attempts made to counter it have not produced any tangible results. This is evident from series of attacks taking place one after the other. The recent ones are in Bangladesh followed by Nice in France, which butchered 84 people and wounded many. This has been done in the name of Islam—if this is Islam, then I hang my head in shame, being the follower of Islam. George Bernard Shaw said, “Islam is the BEST religion, with the WORST followers” and his comment has proved prophetic.
Terrorism is a barbaric act. It raises its ugly head with its varied faces and manifestations to bite into the goodness of humanity and spread barbarism, hatred, extremism, radical thoughts, and bigotry. Terrorists are monsters who do not hesitate in using the cruellest methods of violence and do not spare even women and children. These terrorists have no heart. They are blinded by extreme ideology that only misguides them to commit the heinous crime of inflicting fatalities—most of the time it is revenge motivated or like Karma Boomerang (phrase used by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey -Hinchey Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru)
It is reported that among the 84 people killed there were 10 children — the youngest six months, the eldest 18 years... In his article in Pravda.Ru dated 16 July 2016, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey raises a poignant question “How can a child, who has no notion of the issues involved and who has done nothing actively or passively against the murderer, deserve to be maimed, scarred or killed in the name of some cause?”
In 2011, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey wrote, “Let us hope France, the UK and US do not start complaining when what they are doing in Libya happens on their doorstep”.
He continues, “But let us not forget what France did in Libya, alongside its UK; US bed masters. France perpetrated a massive act of state terrorism, strafing civilian structures with military equipment, strafing civilians with weaponry, destroying the electricity grid, destroying the water supply network, bombing the water pipe factory so that the pipeline could not be repaired, siding with marauding demonic hordes of terrorists, who sliced the breasts off women in the streets, impaled boys on stakes, gang-raped little girls before and after beheading them and after forcing them to watch their parents being tortured to death.”
Now a few questions to Dr Zakir Naik, and other hard line Islamic preachers…
- Does any divine injunction enjoin on Islam followers to slice the breasts of women, indulge in gang rape, destroy the electricity grid and the water supply network and force children watch their parents being tortured?
- Is it not gruesome, shocking, unacceptable, and a blot on humanity?
- Are these terrorists not barbaric bloodthirsty organization?
- Don’t they lack compassion even for those they control or capture, whether Muslim, Christian or Jew?
- Are they not well-organised mindless entities actively selling a fairly-tale not only to the marginalised Muslim youth but to the educated ones also and those weak-minded enough to believe their seductive message?
I wish I get the answers.
Dr Zakir Naik in my assessment could be described as an extremist Islamic Scholar of Wahabi doctrine believing in the medieval interpretation of the Quran. He has demonstrated the ability to embrace modern methods of spreading his message. His oratorical skills are sharp. Intelligent use of social media has been at the forefront of his preaching tactics. His speeches do seem to brainwash, who listen to him, into believing that they will achieve martyrdom if they murder others they perceive as the enemy of Islam. Or take to suicide bombing to achieve that purpose.
However, there is nothing in the Quran, which justifies an act of suicide in any way, shape or form. In fact, any act of individual or collective suicide, is strictly condemned. Therefore, these young men, who sacrifice themselves by doing what is prohibited and condemned by the Quran edicts will, suffer eternally in Jahannam (Hell/Narak) that includes suicide bombers as well but as I understand, according to Dr Naik their permanent abode will be Jannat- (Heaven/Swarg). I wish to know from which Ayat of the Quran this inference has been drawn.
Who Funds Terrorist?
“Money is the fuel that feeds the fire of international terrorism,” said New York Governor Cuomo in a statement. “Global terrorist networks simply cannot thrive without moving significant amounts of money throughout the world. At a time of heightened global security concerns, it is especially vital that banks and regulators do everything they can to stop that flow of illicit funds.”
My article,
“How terrorists finance their operations,” published in Moneylife on 2 September 2014 very briefly highlights the various methods used to raise funds to finance terror operations. Loretta Napoleoni, the Italian bestselling author, economist and journalist studied and interviewed a wide range of terrorist groups globally. This includes the Italian “Red Brigades”, a Marxist organisation to members of Al Arqawi in the Middle East, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a rapidly growing Sunni militant group that is consolidating power throughout Iraq and Syria, and is currently thought to be the richest insurgent group in the world. Her findings have shed light on how the business model of terrorist organisations has evolved over a period, and how the legitimate global financial system becomes unwittingly complicit as a channel for terrorist financing.
Organised crime rackets of drug trafficking, people trafficking; extortion and other like offences are typical crimes for funding terrorism. However, much lower grade ---and more difficult to detect-- crime such as simple fraud, burglary and robbery are used by terrorists who are "sleeping” that is already in place in a country waiting for instructions and do not want to come to the attention of the authorities by becoming employed or by claiming benefits. The perpetrator of the deadly attack in Nice (France) falls in this category. He was a lone wolf, I guess.
However much of the money intended for terrorism does not arise out of crime - it is paid into the accounts by people who earn it legally in ordinary jobs and who pay money to a cause in which they believe. For this reason, money does not come into the financial system as dirty money, which is a point at which dirty money is often most visible.
“Funding remains the life blood of terrorist organizations,”, “It is also one of their most significant vulnerabilities,” says Dennis Lormel, CAMS, a counterterrorism expert.
Discovering and intercepting these sources of funding is the most effective way to choke these organisations and deprive them of their most powerful weapon – cash.
(SSA Zaidi is a retired banker and consultant for training and development. He is also author of Anti Money Laundering /Anti-Terrorism Financing & Know Your Customer)
