Thursday, January 4, 2007

Sad End, Saddam?

Sad end, Saddam be damned
Our heading itself is an indication that the Muslim community is giving mixed reactions over Saddam’s execution. Those who suffered his ire during his regime celebrated the execution while a good number of them mourned and could even be heard speaking ill of the US. There was a big majority who was least bothered and never wanted the news of execution to hamper their Eid celebrations, some of whom have woken up to demonstrate now that three days of Eid have passed.
Hi Time Express spoke to several people and took their views on Saddam’s execution. Prof. Naiyer Masud, one of the most prominent literary figures at Lucknow, rues the fact that society is on verge of split. He is of opinion that people should not allow differences to creep in between themselves owing to Saddam’s execution, both in India and in the Muslim world. Saddam is dead and nothing can bring him back, the Muslim world should work to rebuild the tattered Iraq and other countries which are passing through the same condition.
S. Mahmood Naqvi, journalist and a prominent social worker from Delhi, too stresses on the urgent need to make efforts to build Iraq. He says that Saddam’s execution is neither an occasion for rejoicing but a matter of deep concern for the rulers of Arab countries, a warning that the US is the supreme power and they ought not to ignore the unblemished allegiance to the US.
Likewise, Sheikh Mohammad Arif, Chairman and Managing Director of Arif Industries Limited says that killing of Saddam Hussain shows that the US wishes to tell to the world that it would do what it wants and nobody can stop it. “If it is said that 100-odd people were killed when Saddam was president, we forget that he was the President and as a president he was authorized to pass a judgement. You do not hang a judge if he by mistakes hangs somebody who is innocent. But who is responsible for killing lakhs of people. I am not defending Saddam but what the US is doing is that they are dividing Muslim community to the core and they have succeeded in doing that.”
Arif cites the case of the British who was caught in Arabian attire in Iraq with RDX and other weapons and later the British forces surrounded the police station and got the man released. Says he: “So-called Sunni Shia killing is actually motivated. If it is in their capacity they will destroy Iran tomorrow but because they are showing themselves pro-Shia at the moment, they are showing a soft stance towards it.” And adds: “This is an international conspiracy. Who is supplying arms in Assam and Afghanistan? Who killed Rajiv Gandhi which resulted in instability in the country for last 15 years?”
Giving his views on Saddam’s execution, prominent Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimehli said that this was 100% unfair to Saddam because U.S.A. has no rights to hang him as he was elected President of his country. When asked what was his view on Saddam brutally killing many of his countrymen, Maulana Rasheed said, “He had killed only those who were traitors and I don’t think Saddam had killed any innocents.”
However there are still some like Shia cleric Maulana Saif Abbas who disagree with this statement. From his point of view the death of Saddam had been delayed; he should have been hanged earlier. Had he been hanged earlier, so many innocent lives of women and children would have been saved, he feels.
Maulana Saif also said, “If we talk of Americans they also don’t have the responsibility to kill anyone, to destroy America, God will send some other person. But the lines of Prophet Mohammad comes true which he had earlier explained that “Zulm karne wale ko usse bada zulm karne wala marta hai.”
The President of Nationalist Congress Party (Uttar Pradesh Unit) Ramesh Dixit said, “This is absolutely an act of evil which the US performed because they don’t have such rights to kill a person which did not belong to their country. The people who are contented with his death must have to understand that America cannot create an atmosphere of brotherhood with anyone. It can do the same with others also.”

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