& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Jihadi threats: A coping strategy
***This is all about exercising the soft power of religion and diplomacy to exorcise the genie of prejudices from the humanity whose children are more like each other than unlike each other.**
Worldwide shock and consternation have followed ISIS' beheading of three journalists, two American and one British, as six French tourist guides were lately done to death in a similar fashion.
A hundred American Islamic scholars have voiced their strong condemnation of the executions terming those as a complete anathema to Islam. True Muslims are
enjoined upon to adopt peaceful means including discourse and debate for conflict resolution, and not resort to ruthless forms of retribution. Most significant was the scholars' interpretation of jihad being legitimate only when it is launched in 'defense', not as an offensive.
There is no way one can make light of it, saying that it's being seen from the Western perspective or dismiss it as a Western propaganda.' It will then be demeaning the convictions carried by the scholars in airing such a collective opinion. This finds instant resonance with all right thinking people.
Ilie same goes about the following AFP news item: As Islamic State extremists call for random murders throughout Europe in Allah's name, the continent's Muslims are hitting back with mass peace demonstrations and a Twitter campaign to say "not in my name".'
To quote Aiman Mazyek, chairman of Germany's central council of Muslims: They are "terrorists and murderers who drag Islam into the
dirt and bring hatred and suffering to the people, including to their own fellow Muslims, in Syria, in Iraq and elsewhere*.
Strong words these; and naturally so because if a stick is bent too much on the one side you need to apply an equal force to straighten it back.
This is all about exercising the soft power of religion and diplomacy to exorcise the genie of prejudices from the humanity whose children are more like each other than unlike each other.
Barrack Obama has gone for air strikes on north of Iraq and parts of Syria to dismantle ISIS' strongholds. In a latest move at the UNSC under the chairmanship of President Obama, a resolution was unanimously passed binding the signatories to stemming the flow of foreign jihadists to Iraq and Syria. Freezing the sources of support has been embodied too.
Interestingly, in a latest attack joined in by Qatar and Saudi Arabia some oil installations were destroyed in the war zone, dealing a blow to the source of income for the ISIS.
British Prime Minister David Cameroon has ordered air strikes to degrade ISIS's positions. It is worth noting he says that Britain can't use as a pretext a 'mistake' it had committed 12 years ago to waffle in taking action against ISIS.
The US and Britain had fought a war against an ideology in Afghanistan and Saddam's Iraq to rid it of the so-called WMD which did not exist at all. If the powerful nations fought a violent ideology with a war, they are only expected to wage a full-scale war against those proclaiming caliphate with a territorial design. But the world has changed only to spurn unilateral invasions. And none of the countries where physical intervention had been carried out by big powers is any safer today than it was before in terms of vulnerabilities of extremism.
A 54-country coalition stands pitted against the ultra-jihadists. Some heat is being put on Bangladesh too: We been asked to join it, and abide by trade sanctions against Russia centring around Ukraine, on the sideline. Bangladesh's position may have to be made known on these issues sooner rather than later. One conjecture is that Bangladesh is opposed to intervention in principle.
But we have had on our doorsteps the feel of extremism. To begin with the latest threat, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) lately arrested seven members of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) including its chief. On interrogation, it has been revealed that the group was planning an attack at the highest government level to attract world media attention. Stashes of weapons have been recovered from time to time by Rab.
Although we have combated extremism by arresting terrorists and punishing the diehard elements with death sentence, our counterterrorism strategy based on fighting off a bigoted doctrine with superior ideology has yet to be put in operation.
After al-Zawahiri dropped his bombshell of spearheading a South Asian al-Qaeda front, there has been a mishmash of information hauling up suspects in this category.
A bridge needs to be built between moderate elements of all religions through sustainable interfaith discourses. That will be the best defense against ultra-radicalism.
The profiling of Islam after 9/11, however, should have by now morphed into a positive reckoning of Islam.
The writer Is Associate Editor, The Dally Star.
E-mail: husain.lmam@ithedailystar.net