Most of the violence and armed conflicts witnessed in the world today have been going on in the Arab or Muslim countries e.g. Syria‚ Egypt‚ Afghanistan‚ Iraq‚ Yemen and Pakistan. A common feature of many of these conflicts is that these are not confined to the local people; there is involvement of foreign powers in almost all these conflicts‚ while the sufferers on both sides are Muslims. Some of these conflicts have turned into proxy wars between big powers that have been providing arms and money to the warring sides directly or indirectly.
The big powers have also been giving political support to the parties in these conflicts. Syria provides a typical example. President Basharul Asad is being supported by Russia‚ China and Iran while those opposing him enjoy the blessings and political and diplomatic support of the US‚ EU countries and of the likeminded Arab states.
An unfortunate development has been the coming into play of the sectarian factor in these conflicts in the Muslim countries. This has brought in some of the Arab and Muslim countries also into the battle as proxies. They have been taking sides thereby exacerbating the conflicts.
A deeper study of the facts and figures would show that the United States and some other western powers are behind bringing up the sectarian factor to exploit the situation. They want to divide the Muslim people and advance their own interests. The western countries apparently on the prompting by Israel‚ have been promoting divisive and separatist elements in Muslim countries. Some of the EU states are known to have provided political asylum and diplomatic support to separatists operating in some of the Arab and Muslim states. A significant example is that of Iraq which today stands divided on sectarian lines‚ although the history of modern Iraq is a witness that the sectarian factor never played a decisive role in Iraqi politics in the past.
It must also be pointed out here that though the two major sects have always been there but in practical politics the Ummah was not divided on sectarian lines. A big example is provided by the Pakistan movement. Many top leaders of the movement came from other than Sunni sects but that did not prove any obstacle for them; the Sunni Muslims rallied around them.
The Arab and Muslim world need the same spirit today. The Ummah should stand united against the foreign conspiracies to divide them. They must shun sectarianism in politics. As a first step‚ the Arab and Muslim countries should create a forum for conflict resolution to settle the disputes among them. They should not allow the United States and other western countries to interfere in their internal matters.
The two international bodies of the Ummah‚ the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation should take the initiative for formation of a conflict resolution forum to defeat the foreign conspiracies to divide the Ummah. All issues confronting any member states or between two or more states should be taken to the Ummah’s own proposed forum‚ instead of allowing the foreign powers to interfere in the affairs of the Arab and Muslim countries.
