SINCE its spectacular rise, the self-styled Islamic State continues to shock the world with its brutality. It has hit yet another low: its latest action has been described as cultural cleansing. The IS gangs, after vandalising Mosul Museum, started bulldozing the ancient Assyrian site of Nimrud. Archaeological sites declared as world heritage are being erased in the name of religion. These relics of history had survived and were cherished by many civilisations and fiercely protected by the Iraqis for over 3,000 years.
A recent IS video showed militants with sledgehammers destroying statues and other artefacts that they described as false idols. The relics of what is commonly seen as the cradle of civilisation are now under attack by the so-called Islamic caliphate that has swept large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. The group had earlier burned many priceless manuscripts at the Mosul Central Library after the IS captured the city. The heinous crime is reminiscent of the destruction of Baghdad in the 13th century by the Mongols.
This assault on millennia of culture is part of a conscious move by the IS to erase one of the most important parts of human history. These militants, who have set a new record of savagery by carrying out public beheadings and burning alive their captives, are now trying not only to destroy the present but also the past of the territories they control.
The latest action of the IS is manifest in a dark mindset that espouses barbarism in the name of faith. It should serve as another wakeup call for the world community to act against the cancer that is spreading fast among other Muslim communities.
For religiously inspired radicals, it is justified to kill anyone not subscribing to their interpretation of Islam. The short history of Islamic State is replete with utmost savagery. Its name has become synonymous with religious and ethnic cleansing. The display of brutality is a conscious decision taken by IS leaders to terrorise the enemy and to recruit new militants. It is violence without limits and constraints.
This savagery and brutality against the enemies of faith is not limited to the persecution of Christians, or the massacre of Shias. Even Sunni Islamist rivals are not spared. The attacks on shrines and mosques belonging to rival Sunni groups have escalated despite international outrage.
But why destroy history? The IS action cant be comprehended fully. The answer probably lies in a twisted ideology that rejects every other aspect of human history and culture that existed before the advent of Islam or is outside the realm of their narrow interpretation of religion.
It is not just the obliteration of artefacts and statues that is used by the Islamist zealots to destroy part of human history, there have also been attempts to revise history. One of the biggest examples of this is Pakistan. In the name of Islamisation history has been revised leaving out a most important period that was deemed un-Islamic. Here textbooks generally ignore the pre-Islamic history except to portray Hindu predecessors in a negative light.
The region that became Pakistan in 1947 has been the home of some of the oldest civilisations, but history in its school textbooks begins from the invasion of Mohammed bin Qasim. It is, indeed, painful to watch armed IS militants take their sledgehammers to some of the most treasured artefacts of world heritage sites. But it is no less a crime to teach lies in schools in the name of history. Distortion of history is also a form of destruction of history. Destruction of the past is destruction of the future.
–Zahid Hussain in Dawn
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