Kenya: We Can Defeat Terrorism With Ideology, Not Law
By Yusuf Ghazzali, 23 July 2012
opinion
Debate over the Prevention of Terrorism Bill (2012) has recently revved up,
after it emerged that it is set to be re-introduced to the Cabinet and
Parliament in an attempt to stem the rising cases of bomb attacks in the
country. Different groups, notably leaders from the muslim community, have
been divided over the matter, with a section of them totally rejecting the
bill as a thinly-veiled plan to target members of community. They claim that
many measures in the bill to fight terrorists, including tapping phones,
arresting individuals and confiscating property, can easily be abused by
law-enforcement agencies.
Another section insists that the bill should be enacted into law but with
appropriate amendments, by striking out the offensive parts that violate the
individual rights to privacy, wealth and freedom of the media. All in all,
to decisively win the battle against those who believe it is a legitimate
act of war to target innocent civilians with deadly bombs and explosives,
there is need to systematically weaken their arguments.
Defeating such people will take more than legal, financial and military
strategies since they ruthlessly subvert the teachings of religion to commit
their crimes and mislead others to do the same. Such people form a tiny
minority within the muslim community and their heinous acts of terrorism
soils the otherwise good name of Islam and muslims.
Mainstream muslim leaders and opinion shapers must now show leadership in
this matter by attacking the twisted ideology of those who engage in
terrorist attacks in the name of islam. This work cannot be done by
outsiders. They need to show that blowing up bombs against civilians or
using suicide-bombings against non-military targets is not part of the
religion. This will reduce the number of young muslims being recruited into
these wrong groups and becoming security threats.
No doubt Islam is a religion of peace that does not allow such monstrosities
to be committed in its name. I am well aware that the term "islam" actually
means "peace" in Arabic. It also means "submission to the will of God". Of
course Islam is also a religion that does not shy away from combat when the
situation demands it, but those killing and blowing innocent civilians with
bombs in the name of islam are grossly misrepresenting the teachings of the
religion..
It is time muslim leaders come out more strongly to condemn act of terrorism
committed in the name of the religion and to struggle against that wrong
ideological strain that has taken root within a minority section of the
faith. Most muslim leaders and faithfuls appear to be still in denial about
this problem and this subject is rarely talked about in muslim religious
institutions.
It is in the interest of muslims to save their faith from being hijacked by
people who misrepresent the teachings of the Koran and that of the muslim
prophet muhammed otherwise public suspicion and hostility against members of
the faith cannot subside. Secondly, no matter which side of the debate one
stands, everyone agrees that confronting the scourge of terrorism cannot be
done effectively by sweeping away fundamental rights and freedoms of
individuals.
Those saying that fighting terrorists must come at a price of limiting
individual liberties are grossly misrepresenting the reality and are doing a
disservice to the welfare of our country. For instance, the recent
renditions of Kenyans to Uganda after being suspected of unleashing bomb
attacks in Kampala in July 2010 that killed about 80 people was a shot in
the foot in the fight to defeat terrorists.
The move unleashed legitimate condemnation from local and international
rights groups and that mistake robbed the efforts to defeat terrorists of
moral credibility and handed victory to the bad guys. If the state had
simply arrested those suspects and taken them to court in Kenya, no one
would have any finger of condemnation worth considering. Let's fight
terrorists but do so within the limits of recognised rights.
Yusuf Ghazzali is an accountant who comments on topical issues.
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Received on Mon Jul 23 2012 - 14:01:59 EDT
