Osama – angel or devil?

Dr. Khurshid Alam
An year ago, on 2nd May the most wanted man, Osama, was killed by US marines in Abbottabad. It was one of the extremely guarded and secretive missions ever carried out by US. The air borne attack took less than one hour to be completed.
Today Osama is as much controversial person, as he was during his life time. To many he was a dedicated international holy warrior. To others he was the father of destruction and threat to humanity. To him life meant nothing, death and terror was his faith.
A person can be assessed by his intentions and the ultimate results of his deeds. In Muslim world a huge silent majority consider him the international holy warrior, a soldier of Islam and saviour. His popularity in certain circles was not out of love and sympathy for him but it was expression of hatred for US policies. The reason behind the silence of the majority was their inability to own him and his destructive deeds due to loaded guilt complex.
No religious, moral or humanistic grounds could be provided to justify terror. Religiously speaking he claimed to be fighting a holy war against the two super powers who are against Islam. If that was the case, in Islam there are specific preconditions to declare a holy war and the declaration of holy war needs a competent authority. He had none. It was terror and killings randomly. The maximum damage was done to Islam and the Muslims. The main brunt of his holy war was borne by Afghanistan and Pakistan. The others who suffered were Sudan, Yemen and Iraq. The victims were almost all Muslims.
Islam does not at all allow to kill or damage the non combatant people in a holy war. God is not only the Creator and Sustainer of the Muslims but of the universe as a whole, that includes even those, who don’t believe in him. Allah commands us not to touch non combatants and particularly emphasises on old, poorly, women and children.
In Osama’s Jihad the most protected were the foremost and main targets A suicidal bomber hardly knows who will be the victim of his devilish act and is unaware that his own act is prohibited in Islam. The poverty and ignorance is very malleable and easily manipulated in any form.
His movement of terror and slaughter of mankind has tarnished the image of Islam and the Muslims. It was his devilish movement that made Islam and Muslims synonymous to terror and terrorists respectively. Apart from human losses he has destroyed Afghanistan and Pakistan economically and politically.
He has created fear throughout the world. Terror breeds terror, violence breeds violence and both result in fear of the known and unknown. Fear is the most horrible feelings. Fear kills logic and wrecks free thinking. It is the most heinous crime against humanity and destroys the very basic fabric of a society.
Religiously his deeds were condemnable and were obnoxious in totality. Islam cannot be established on the skulls of human beings. The basic principle of Islam that charity begins at home. He should have started a political movement in his native country.
If he had a shred of morality he should have left Afghanistan when it was evident that US is going to hit Afghanistan and Taliban. If Afghans showed the courtesy that their traditions do not allow them to ask a guest to leave the country then he should have volunteered to leave Afghanistan to avoid total destruction.
The credit of his popularity in ignorant circles goes to US and its regional ally Pakistan. The double standards pursued by US in the conduct of its foreign policy prepared the ground for terrorism. The regional ally wanted to use this opportunity for their own interest. Zia radicalised Pakistan so much that it was prepared and receptive womb for the fertilisation of the embryo of terrorism. During the rule of two army dictators Pakistan was pregnant terrorist beast interfering every where and any where. Now the country is paying the price.
Apart from collapse of the economy the breaches in the security of Pakistan, are of grave concern. Pakistan is totally exposed to external and internal threats. Neither we have no sovereignty on ground or air space. We have no fool proof arrangement to protect our geographical borders, our strategists are busy to protect ideological borders.
The gravity of each incident is such that morality demanded that the top leadership of armed forces and intelligence agencies should have resigned or terminated by the government if it was strong enough. If there was moral courage in the opposition they should have spearheaded a movement to plug in the holes in the security that was threatening the solidarity of the country.
For the barbarism carried out by al-Qaeda, the US and its regional allies carry equal responsibility. The world is extremely unsafe since the collapse of USSR. The counter devil theory needs revival.
The most hated country in the globe is the US. And the most hated personalities are Mr. Bush and Osama in sensible circles. If a universal gallop is carried out it will be not surprising that if Bush is ahead of Osama. Both were vicious by nature. Planned mischievousness is a bigger crime than accidental. It shows dishonesty of the mind. Intellectual criminality has roots and persists for a long time to come and difficult to root out, while individual impulsive physical crime dies down after the crime is committed. Bush and Osama legacy will be there for a long time to come and humanity will pay the price.
Terror in any form has the same consequences. To categorise and name it differently is a compounded crime and can be termed moral bankruptcy only. The world is in the grip of fear, economical uncertainty and political instability and if the roots are traced, it will lead to the time when terrorism was introduced as a mean to achieve political ends.