The Hypocrisy of NCP Supporters on Darfur
By Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman
For supporters of the National Congress Party (NCP) regime in
Khartoum
the tragedy in
Darfur
just doesn't exist and it is for them a Zionist
conspiracy and propaganda
.
As early as
Dec. 21, 2004
, the
Republic
of
Sudan Radio
reported that Sudanese Interior Minister Ahmad Haroun, flanked by two other government ministers, "accused the Zionist entity of supplying the rebels with weapons in the framework of
Israel
's plan that targets Arab nations."
Analysts say that
some of the
Sudan
government's accusations are rooted in the history of the 21-year civil war, in which
Israel
is believed to have aided the southern
Sudan
rebels
led by late Dr. John Garang. Large crowds were in the streets of Khartoum Hailing Death to
America
, calling for jihad against the UN-AU peacekeeping forces in
Darfur
.
The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir long resisted western demands, vowing that he would lead a "jihad" against any UN peacekeeper that sets foot in
Darfur
. But in June 2007 he accepted a compromise deal for deployment of a "hybrid mission" of mainly African troops.
A joint African Union-United Nations force took over peacekeeping duties in
Darfur
on
Monday 31st December 2007
, a long-awaited change that is intended to be the strongest effort yet to solve the world's worst humanitarian crisis. So far no crowds dared to come out on the streets of
Khartoum
against Omer al-Bashir’s acceptance of deployment of the “Infidel” Hybrid Force!
On the other hand, not a single protest march by Muslims in
Khartoum
took place on the massacre and carnage of up to 400,000 Muslims at the hand of fellow Muslims in
Darfur
and
over two million refugees are on the move or have fled the country completely. In this tragedy,
men, women and children are virtually mowed down without mercy. When the mayhem is complete, the victims’ bodies are often dismembered, sprayed with oil and burnt alongside their huts. The livestock and young women are spared to be taken away as the war booty.
Thousands of wielding knives
reacted violently to the much less critical issue of the cartoon controversy
in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on
30 September 2005
and more recently
protesters in
Khartoum
demanded the execution of a British teacher Gillian Gibbons convicted of insulting Islam after her pulil at the
Unity
High School
in
Khartoum
, named a teddy bear “Muhammad”.
She was found guilty of insulting religion
“blasphemy”
and
got 15-day prison term in Sudan.
Sudan
's influential Council of Muslim Scholars urged the government not to pardon Gibbons, saying it would damage
Khartoum
's reputation among Muslims around the world!
Ironically
,
two British Peers, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Ahmed, went to Sudan at the weekend in a private initiative to try to secure Gibbons' early release. They
met
and appealed to the Sudanese president Marshal Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir for her early release.
The President of government of Sudan (GOS) eventually pardoned
her.
This illustrates a hypocritical double standard at the extreme. Following this row, and as reported by the Ahdath Daily, the Association of Scholars and Preachers issued a F
atwa banning opening of foreign, or rather non-Muslim
schools in Khartoum.
Unfortunately, in this way, NCP regime jurists in
Khartoum
are always fully prepared to issue a Fatwa after a Fatwa on every matter in question as a servitude to the National Islamic Front (NIF) Government in
Sudan
. Most of the
Fatwas issued by these scholars are farce and are often deliberate exploitation of religion in politics by the ruling elite in
Khartoum
.
The glorious Qur’an says: "O mankind: We have created you from a single male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily the most honourable in you in the sight of Allah is that who has At-Taqwa (pious and righteous person) who fear Allah much and love Allah much."(49.13). Thus, according to the Qur’an, colour, creed or caste, does not distinguish a person from the other in Islam and that all people are born equal. In their curtain of silence on the
Darfur
crisis,
Khartoum
religious clerics are more than prepared to pass fatwa on the legitimacy for the Islamic State of Sudan to deal with the outlaws, the
Darfur
rebel movements. While the Khartoum Muslims were
protesting over the presence of the UN peacekeeping forces in Darfur for the protection of civilians, they turned a blind eye toward the troops being deployed in central and southern areas of the country based on the Naivasha, Kenya, Peace Agreement signed
between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)
on
January 9, 2005
, best known as Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Moreover,
the Islamic and the Arab world's response to the
Darfur
crisis has been non-existent. Their failure is certainly tragic.
Nonetheless, it is moral much more than political.
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is the Deputy Chairman of the General Congress for Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). He can be reached at
[email protected]