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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Peace and Reconciliation |
|---|---|
| located: | Afghanistan, India, Thailand |
| editor: | Shadi Khan Saif |
Life, as we know it in the digital age of globalisation, where a virus called COVID-19 is born in one corner of the world quickly jolted the entire world, is certainly a new reality from that of a mere four decades ago.
Back during that time, the so-called Free World joined hands to nurture and support an armed uprising against Soviet-backedked regime in Kabul and the invading Red Army in Afghanistan. Very much like the world is battling the novel coronavirus today, a joint front was formed back then to use religion in the fight against the now forgotten Afghan War.
When the so-called Free World got what it wanted at the end of the cold war, Afghanistan was left in devastation, with seeds of hatred sown on a political turf with global ramifications.
Since then, the unleashed evil forces – imagine it as the coronavirus of today – are causing havoc in every corner of the world, regardless of religious and sociopolitical boundaries, with Muslims in general and Afghans in particular falling prey to it.
The barbaric armed assault on a maternity hospital in Kabul last week, and a heinous suicide bombing at a funeral gathering on the same day stunned every sane person in all corners of the world. Yet, those still in doubt or justifying such attacks in one way or the other are victims of this very evil ideology. It has not only blurred religious boundaries with strategic, military and political spheres, but allowed evil forces to hijack religious narratives.
The growing religious fanaticism in India and even Thailand are one example of the hijacking of narratives spilling over and reaching to all of us around the world.
The heart-wrenching images of newborn babies in Kabul littered in their own blood as their mothers were shot by terrorists took the ongoing inhuman horror in the country to new extreme levels. Yet, many of us remain surrounded by regional and international strategic rhetoric of confusion as a new normal for the war-ravaged Afghanistan.
No, this can happen anywhere to anyone unless the dark and evil forces of hatred are not replaced with deeds of justice and tranquility worldwide.
For eventual peace in our shared world, it is pivotal to unite firstly in acknowledging the dilemma in Afghanistan as a global concern, root out its causes near and far and heal the devastated nation.
