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Muslim's Holocausts and Genocide Remembrance Day

By Syed Soharwardy, Muslims Against Terrorism (M.A.T.)

In the history of mankind it never happened before that so many human beings suffered and continuously struggled to survive for more than a century without any help from outside. In the past, whenever a calamity came upon a certain community either they were completely wiped out from the face of this earth or someone from outside came and helped them in getting out of calamity or they themselves struggled so hard that they defeated the cause of calamities, hence ending the period of calamity. Moreover, it never happened that at one time so many communities remained under calamities for such a long period. Please look around and see what is going on in this world? Muslims in various parts of the world have been under siege and there seems to be no way out for them. But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said that all Muslims are like a body. If a part of the body suffers the entire body suffers. I am sure what Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) have said can not be wrong but there is a possibility that we may not be that kind of Muslims which Prophet (Peace be upon him) meant in this Hadith.

The Holocausts and Genocide of Muslims have taken place in the past and recently. But it seems that the people in the western world do not know enough about them and there is a need to create awareness about it. As the Muslims in the western world are still struggling to make their place in the society, it is critical that our Christian friends know these facts and understand the situation of Muslim Ummah. After the World War II the Jewish community was so successful in making the Christians believe that the Christians have victimized them. They have made Christians so guilty conscious that the majority of Christians not only sympathize with the Jewish community but they feel obligated to pay back the Jewish community whatever they can by supporting every action of Jewish community.

Muslims do not need to make anybody guilty of conscious. We just need to communicate with our Christian friends in their language and terminology. I am sure they will understand but Muslims have to take the first step. We want to make sure that the people must recognize and believe in the other Holocausts and genocide as well as the World War II Holocaust. Let's review few Holocausts and Genocide of Muslims around the world.

* Palestine: The Muslim community of Palestine has been struggling for their survival and freedom for almost a century. The Palestinian community was struggling for their homeland long before the creation of Israel. They were expecting to have their homeland when the British leave the area but when British left the area they created Israel not Palestine. After the creation of Israel, the Jewish people of Israel not only captured the homes and lands of poor Palestinians but they also denied them the right of existence in their own homeland. Since 1948 the calamities for the Palestinian people have increased instead of decreasing. Presently, what Israeli forces are doing to Palestinians is worse than the Holocaust of the World War II. There is no doubt in my mind that the Jewish community suffered a lot during world war II from the hands of Nazis and almost six million Jews were killed in that Holocaust. However, all these calamities ended on the Jewish people when the allied forces got victory. The Jewish community was liberated with the help from USA and allied forces. On the other side, the Palestinians have been struggling on their own against a power (Israel + USA + worldwide Jewish and allied communities) which is 100 times more resourceful than the Palestinians. Palestinians have no support from their own Arab brothers. Palestinians have no support from the Muslims of the world. Whatever Palestinians get from the Arab and Muslim world is no more than a lip service. Apparently, we do not see any end to these calamities on the Palestinians in the near future. So far, more than over a million Palestinians have been killed, millions of them have made refugees, and millions of them are in the concentration camps. The Israeli forces have converted Palestinian homes and areas into concentration camps.

* Chechnya: The Muslim community of Chechnya has been struggling for their survival and freedom for almost a century. During early 1900s the Russian forces illegally occupied Chechan land and later Russian government annexed it and made it part of Russia against the will of Chechans. The severity of Russian oppression on Chechnya is so grave that the Russian government looted all the resources of Chechnya such as oil, coal and other minerals and built the European part of Russia while denied the Chechan Muslims any part of their own wealth. Chechnya is one of the least developed areas of Russian Federation. After the collapse of Soviet Union Chechnya announced its independence from Russia. Since then, the Russian forces have carried out the Genocide and Holocaust of Chechan Muslims. Thousands of Muslims have been killed. Buildings have been destroyed. The entire infrastructure of Chechnya has been collapsed. Women have been publicly raped. Their brothers, fathers and husbands have been mutilated in front of them. Just like Palestinians Chechans got no help from the governments of Muslim countries except the lip service. The western governments are the most hypocrites. On one side they want to resolve the Chechnya issue peacefully but on the other side they are providing all the support and the resources to Russian Military to crush the Chechan Muslims.

* Kashmir: The Muslims of Kashmir have been struggling for their freedom for the last two centuries. For the first 145 years they fought the war against the British rule along with the people of India. Finally, when the people of India succeeded in getting independence from Britain in 1947, the Kashmiri Muslims thought that they would also be independent from the rule of non-Muslims. When the British left India, the country was divided into countries. The Muslim majority areas of India became independent country called Pakistan and the remaining Hindu dominated areas became a separate country called India. According to the agreed upon formula of division Muslim dominated areas should have joined Pakistan but the departing British rulers divided the border in such a way that it became very easy for India to annex this beautiful and full of resources land of Muslims into India. After the independence, Pakistan fought a war in early fifties and captured some of the area of Kashmir. But this did not help in reducing the miseries of the Muslims of Kashmir. For the past 55 years India is systematically changing the demographics of Kashmir. Thousands of Muslims have been killed. The Indian forces have carried out the Genocide of Muslims in Kashmir openly and deliberately. There is no house in Indian held Kashmir where at least one or more family members have not been killed by the Indian army. Every Muslim home is under a siege. Women's have been raped. Children have been kidnapped or killed. Muslims are forced to leave Kashmir. For every Muslim house in Kashmir there are three Indian soldiers. Again, Kashmiri Muslims have no help from any Muslim government. They are fighting against an enemy who is 100 times more resourceful and powerful. The west has completely closed its eyes on Kashmir. The Genocide continues in Kashmir and apparently no one cares.

* Bosnia and Kossovo: The conflict in Bosnia Herzgovina and Kossovo is fresh in our memories. The largest Holocaust and Genocide in the recent history of Europe after the Holocaust of Word War II was created against the Muslims of Bosnia and Kossovo. More than half million Muslims were killed, Almost all the adult male population of Bosnia and Kossovo was sent into concentration camps. Women and children were not only tortured and raped but they were forced to kill their own relatives with their own hands. Millions of Muslims were made refugees to take shelter around the world. This genocide and Holocaust took place while the European and America forces were there. They saw it, and pretended, as they were helpless. The United Nations forces, which included Europeans and Americans, supposed to protect the safe heavens for Bosnian Muslims but they failed and thousands of Muslims were slaughtered in front of them. Imagine a hypothetical situation, if instead of Bosnian Muslims few hundred American would have been slaughtered by the Serbs, would the UN forces just had watched it helplessly like they watched the slaughter of Bosnian Muslims? Off course, not. The Holocaust of Bosnian and Kossovar Muslims was carried out by a conspiracy of eliminating Muslims from Europe. That conspiracy failed. Otherwise, the plan was to remove any chances of a Muslim state in Europe.

The situation in Bosnia Herzgovina, Kossovo and Macedonia has been temporarily settled. This is all artificial, because the problem has not been resolved permanently. The conditions under which Muslims are living are not very much different from the conditions that started the conflict in first place. Bosnia Herzegovina is still divided on the ethnic lines. There are pockets of each community and they do not talk to each other. Any small incident can flare up the old wounds and situation will go back to mid 1990s situation. In Kossovo and Macedonia the situation is similar. Both Kossovo and Macedonia are divided on ethnic lines. Forcing the people to live together while they do not want to live together will not solve the problem permanently. To solve the problem permanently Kossovo must get its freedom and Macedonia should be divided into autonomous regions.

* Muslim States in Russian Federation: The history of Muslims in the present Russian Federation goes back to several centuries. But during the past two centuries the Russian forces have occupied most of the Muslim states, which used to surround Russia. Even after the fall of Soviet Union, there are still many Muslim states, which have been illegally annexed into Russia. Chechnya is one of them. Ingushetia, Kergyzia, Ossetia, Turkamania and many other states in Siberia are all Muslim states which have been annexed into Russian Federation against the will of the people of these lands. If a fair and open referendum is held today and people given a chance to vote without any fear of persecution, many Muslim states will choose to breakout from the Russian Federation. The reason is very clear. Since the annexation of these Muslim States into Russia, the Russian governments have been using and exporting the resources of these Muslim states to develop and flourish the regions around Moscow and leaving these areas undeveloped and backward. The Muslims of these states and regions do not even have access to basic human needs such as education, drinking water, transportation, health care, etc.?The Muslim population of these states has any power. The puppets in the parliament represent them. Since Muslims of these states do not have access to education, therefore, they are not well educated which creates a huge vacuum for the leadership of these Muslims. The standard of living of these poor Muslims is worse while their regions are the wealthiest in Russian Federation for their natural and mineral resources.

Muslims in China: There are more than 50 million Muslims live in China. The ancient record of the Tang Dynasty describes a landmark visit to China by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (May Allah be pleased with him), one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 650 A.D. The Chinese emperor Yung-Wei respected the teachings of Islam and considered it to be compatible with the teachings of Confucius. To show his admiration for Islam, the emperor approved the establishment of China's first mosque at Ch'ang-an. That mosque still stands today after fourteen centuries.

Anti-Muslim sentiments took root in China during the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644 - 1911 A.D.), which was established by Manchus who were a minority in China. Muslims in China number more than 50 million, according to unofficial counts. They represent ten distinct ethnic groups. The largest are the Chinese Hui, who comprise over half of China's Muslim population. The largest of Turkic groups are the Uygurs who are most populous in the province of Xinjiang, where they were once an overwhelming majority. This overwhelming majority of Muslims has slowly been reduced but still Muslims are in majority.

The reduction in Muslim population has been drastic during the communist regime of China. So far all the communist governments have seen Muslims as threat and they have killed more than half million Muslims during the communist party rule. The ethnic cleansing of Muslims is continuously going on in China for the last fifty years. Muslims can not worship openly. The areas of Muslim majority have been kept undeveloped and when a Muslim wants to improve his / her standard of living he /she has no choice but to leave the area. When he / she arrives in the developed areas of China they are no more allowed to practice their religion openly.

Today, the entire western world cries for the hard time faced by the followers of Falun Gong movement but no one cries on the genocide of Chinese Muslims. Whenever, the Western governments talk about the human rights issues in China they always mention Falun Gong and Christians. At least, I have never heard any western leader mentioning the Muslims of China. The most unfortunate situation with the Chinese Muslims is that the Muslim countries themselves do not want to talk about them because of the good relations between Chinese government and the Muslims countries. At least the other oppressed Muslims get little lip service from Muslim governments and Chinese Muslims do not even get that.

* Cambodian Muslims: When the civil war in Cambodia took place during Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, millions of Cambodians were sentenced to death. Among those millions of Cambodians, thousands of Muslims were also murdered. Mosques and Islamic schools were destroyed. Many Islamic institutions were closed. Muslims were forced to step on the Holy Qur'an and eat pig which is against their religious beliefs. The genocide of Cambodian Muslims was not even considered worth mentioning in the media including media in the Muslim world. There are many other countries where Muslims are not allowed to identify themselves as Muslims and practice their religion with freedom. If they try to practice their religion, they become victims of hatred and oppression or face genocide. The oppression of Muslims by the Muslims is also on the rise. Muslims are not allowed to practice Islam in many Muslim countries such as Turkey, Algeria, Tajikistan, Uzbukistan, Qazakistan, Azerbaijan, etc. In many Muslim countries Muslims are not allowed to democratically elect their own government. Most of the Muslim governments are secular and are symbol of oppression.

Afghan war goes on, so will Anti-war activity.

Even before Washington announced the deployment of more troops to Afghanistan, US public support for the war was at an all time low.

Anti-war activists say the decision to send more troops will leave many Americans disappointed.

But Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker reports that so far there have only been limited protests.

UN rights chief says Swiss ban on minarets ‘clearly discriminatory’

1 December 2009 – The United Nations human rights chief spoke out today against the Swiss ban on the building of new minarets, calling it a discriminatory and deeply divisive step which risks putting the county on a “collision course” with its international rights obligations.

“I hesitate to condemn a democratic vote, but I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scare-mongering that has characterized political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay (pic) stated.

The ban results from a referendum held on Sunday on the subject, which was not supported by the Government of Switzerland, she noted in a news release.

Ms. Pillay said that banning an architectural structure that is associated with one religion only is clearly discriminatory.

“Some of the politicians who proposed this motion argued that it wasn’t targeting Islam or Muslims,” she said. “Others claimed that banning minarets would improve integration. These are extraordinary claims when the symbol of one religion is targeted.”

The High Commissioner added that such a ban is “discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take, and risks putting the country on a collision course with its international human rights obligations.”

Yesterday Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, voiced her regret at the vote and its negative consequences for Muslims in Switzerland.

“Indeed, a ban on minarets amounts to an undue restriction of the freedom to manifest one’s religion and constitutes a clear discrimination against members of the Muslim community in Switzerland,” she stated.