I was closely watching the general reaction and public perception towards the proposed 34-nation alliance to fight the menace of terrorism in Muslim countries. Apparently the target is to build a military alliance to face a common enemy, but who is this common enemy: IS? This terrorist organisation expanded in a matter of months in front of our eyes and one couldn’t do anything. Conflicting interests in IS’ expansion led to a stalemate. That’s why it is now operating as a full-fledged state.
As of now, IS has already been facing a ‘forced’ coalition of Western and Muslim countries with disparate centres of foreign policies. Though air bombardment has limited the IS capabilities to expand; however, until boots are on ground, IS is not going to be eliminated for good. After burning fingers in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern adventures, West has not committed any ground forces. Therefore, it’s the duty of regional powers to take over the task. In my opinion it may not be practical for this proposed 34-nation alliance which are located from Malaysia to Turkey to Nigeria, to fight this regional war. However, the front on which this alliance should work is the ideology to which these terrorist organisations subscribe to justify their cause.
Yesterday you defeated Al-Qaeda, today it emerged as IS, tomorrow another outfit will take over the mantle of darkness from IS. You can gun down the terrorists but can’t wipe out the ideology by force. For that you have to work on alternate narrative to bring the people together, not to exclude them owing to their religions, sects or schools of thought. This 34-nation alliance needs to work on the curriculum being taught in our schools and seminaries. They have to find out why our youth, regardless if educated from seminaries or schools, are turning towards extremism. Every nation has to share its experiences with others on how it’s fighting the war on ideology.
With material resources you may buy the high tech the West is desperate to sell to Muslim countries, but you can’t defeat the ideology with high tech. For that, educationalists, religious scholars, jurists and intellectuals have to work together. We need to turn our energies towards the real enemy — the ideology of hatred which leads to extremism. As said, prevention is better than cure. It takes time but it is everlasting.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
