MUMBAI: Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) has condemned the mass killing of civilians in the latest clashes between loyalists of the toppled Bashar al-Assad and the security forces of the present regime allied with extremist Islamist forces in north-west Syria.
In a statement signed by over 100 intellectuals and activists, IMSD’s convenor Javed Anand has said: “One may have differing opinions on the former government of Bashar al-Assad, but we speak out unequivocally against the targeted pogroms and murder of the minority communities, namely the Alawites, Christians and Shiites.”
IMSD’s statement has been endorsed by leading civil society organizations and prominent individuals supportive of the rights of minorities, irrespective of caste and creed. Included among them are important office bearers of the CPI and CPI(M).
“The crisis is so stark that US and Russia had to call for an urgent closed door meeting of the 15-member UNSC. US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, strongly condemned “radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis” committing the massacres, and reaffirmed Washington’s support for Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Kurds. Moreover, Rubio demanded accountability from Syria’s interim government,” said the statement.
The statement quoted Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, as saying that both Moscow and Washington are in contact on the issue and that, “The council was united in what we discussed… everyone spoke out. I wouldn’t say with one voice, but everyone emphasized the same elements: the inadmissibility of what happened, the mass murders, and violence.” The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has condemned what he calls “extremely disturbing” reports of brutal “revenge killings”, in which “entire families, including women and children” have been savagely butchered. Of the more than 1,000 people who have reportedly been killed, more than 750 are civilians.
Certain media reports mention figures up to 4,500 and more. While the Alawites (a sub-sect among Shia Muslims) are the main target of the Islamists, Christians and Shias too are being targeted in the Sunni majority country. It must emphasised that Sunnis who are offering protection to their compatriots too are being targeted. A protest called in Damascus by all sections of Syrian society, was dispersed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) gunmen. The Islamist jihadists from the various factions of the HTS, Al Qaeda and ISIS ran amok as they killed the defenceless civilians in cold blood. Many of these jihadists are of non-Syrian origin; they come from Turkey, Albania, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Uyghurs from Xinjiang (China), and this has only worsened the dire situation. Following the international outcry, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly Jolani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a breakaway faction from Al Qaeda) announced the formation of an independent committee to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them.”
In a Reuters interview, Sharaa said mass killings of Alawites were a threat to his mission to unite the country, and promised to punish those responsible, including his own alies. IMSD calls for an independent inquiry into the pogroms, by the UNHRC, as the Jolani regime has extremely low credibility among the afflicted communities. The killings by the Islamists are fuelled by an ideology of religious sectarianism and extremism. Slogans such as, “Alawite and Shia to the grave and Christians to Beirut”, are commonly heard in Wahhabi/Salafist mosques and in street protests. IMSD has asked Indian Muslims to speak out against the massacres being perpetrated by extremist Muslims in the name of Islam during this holy month of Ramzan. We also appeal to all Indians as well as the global community to speak out against the horrendous killings of religious minorities in Syria.
“We call for a dialogue and reconciliation within Syrian society and for them to do the utmost to prevent the ‘Al Qaeda-isation’ or ‘ISIS-isation’ of Syria. It is our belief that the greater majority of the Syrian people are committed to an inclusive, pluralistic, secular democratic Syria. In these difficult times, the world stands with the Syrian nation,” said the statement.