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Are Muslims Enemies of Peace? – Part 4

By Dr Javed Jamil

Director

International Centre for Applied Islamics

India

Organised violence

The Western Media have been aggressively singling out Muslims as the source of violence, but the facts speak to the contrary. It has already been seen that the level of almost all crimes is much less in Muslim countries than in most of the other countries. Let us now glance through the history of last 100-150 years to find, which countries indulged in biggest massacres, wars and civil wars. According to the website copyrighted by Pierie Scruff, which gives the statistics of wars and civil wars, about 160 million people died in wars in the 20th century. The break-up of these wars and people dying in each of them is as follows:

Wars in last 150 years

1860-65: American civil war (360,000)
1886-1908: Belgium-Congo Free State (3 million)
1899-02: British-Boer war (100,000)
1904: Germany Vs Namibia (65,000)
1904-05: Japan Vs Russia (150,000)
1910-20: Mexican revolution (250,000)
1911: Chinese Revolution (2.4 million)
1911-12: Italian-Ottoman war (20,000)
1912-13: Balkan wars (150,000)
1915: the Ottoman empire slaughters Armenians (1.2 million)
1914-18: World War I (8 million)
1917-21: Soviet revolution (5 million)
1928-37: Chinese civil war (2 million)
1931: Japanese Manchurian War (1.1 million)
1934: Mao's Long March (170,000)
1936: Italy's invasion of Ethiopia (200,000)
1936-37: Stalin's purges (13 million)
1936-39: Spanish civil war (600,000)
1939-45:
World War II (55 million) including holocaust and Chinese revolution
1946-49: Chinese civil war (1.2 million)
1946-49: Greek civil war (50,000)
1947: Partition of India and Pakistan (1 million)
1948-1973: Arab-Israeli wars (70,000)
1948-: Kashmir's civil war (40,000)
1949-: Indian Muslims Vs Hindus (20,000)
1950-53: Korean war (4 million)
1954-62: French-Algerian war (1 million)
1958-61: Mao's "Great Leap Forward" (30 million)
1960-90: South Africa Vs Africa National Congress (?)
1961-2003: Kurds Vs Iraq (180,000)
1962-75: Mozambique Frelimo Vs Portugal (?)
1964-73: USA-Vietnam war (3 million)
1965: second India-Pakistan war over Kashmir
1965-66: Indonesian civil war (200,000)
1966-69: Mao's "Cultural Revolution" (11 million)
1966-: Colombia's civil war (31,000)
1967-70: Nigeria-Biafra civil war (800,000)
1968-80: Rhodesia's civil war (?)
1969-79: Idi Amin, Uganda (300,000)
1969-02: IRA - Northern Ireland's civil war (2,000)
1969-79: Francisco Macias Nguema, Equatorial Guinea (50,000)
1971: Pakistan-Bangladesh civil war (500,000)
1972-: Philippines Vs Muslim separatists (120,000)
1972: Burundi's civil war (300,000)
1972-79: Rhodesia/Zimbabwe's civil war (30,000)
1974-91: Ethiopian civil war (1,000,000)
1975-78: Menghitsu, Ethiopia (1.5 million)
1975-79: Khmer Rouge, Cambodia (1.7 million)
1975-89: Boat people, Vietnam (250,000)
1975-90: civil war in Lebanon (40,000)
1975-87: Laos' civil war (184,000)
1975-2002: Angolan civil war (500,000)
1976-83: Argentina's military regime (20,000
1976-93: Mozambique's civil war (900,000)
1976-98: Indonesia-East Timor civil war (600,000)
1976-: Indonesia-Aceh (GAM) civil war (12,000)
1979: Vietnam-China war (30,000)
1979-88: the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan (1.3 million)
1980-88: Iraq-Iran war (1 million)
1980-92: Sendero Luminoso - Peru's civil war (69,000)
1980-92: El Salvador's civil war (100,000)
1980-99: Kurds Vs Turkey (35,000)
1982-90: Hussein Habre, Chad (40,000)
1983-2002: Sri Lanka's civil war (64,000)
1983-2002: Sudanese civil war (2 million)
1987-: Palestinian Intifada (4,500)
1988-2001: Afghanistan civil war (400,000)
1988-2004: Somalia's civil war (550,000)
1989-: Liberian civil war (220,000)
1989-: Uganda Vs Lord's Resistance Army (30,000)
1991: Gulf War - large coalition against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (85,000)
1991-97: Congo's civil war (800,000)
1991-2000: Sierra Leone's civil war (200,000)
1991-: Russia-Chechnya civil war (200,000)
1991-94: Armenia-Azerbaijan war (35,000)
1992-96: Tajikstan's civil war war (50,000)
1992-96: Yugoslavia's civil war (200,000)
1992-99: Algerian civil war (150,000)
1993-97: Congo Brazzaville's civil war (100,000)
1993-: Burundi's civil war (200,000)
1994: Rwanda's civil war (900,000)
1995-: Pakistani Sunnis Vs Shiites (1,300)
1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal (10,000)
1998-: Congo/Zaire's war - Rwanda and Uganda Vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia (3.8 million)
1998-2000: Ethiopia-Eritrea war (75,000)
1999: Kosovo's liberation war - NATO Vs Serbia (2,000)
2001: Afghanistan's liberation war - USA & UK Vs Taliban (25,000)
2002-: Cote d'Ivoire's civil war (1,000)
2003: Iraq's liberation war - USA, UK and Australia Vs Saddam Hussein (14,000)
2003-: Sudan Vs Darfur (70,000)
2003-: Iraq's civil war (100,000)

 

Out of the total number of around 160 million dead, more than 135 million have been killed in or by countries that are now the five big powers of the world, namely China, the US, the UK, France and Russia. The killings by or in Muslim countries form a very small percentage of the total killings, despite the fact that Muslims form about one fifth of the world population. If we convert the figures into community-wise break-up, 90% of violence has involved Christians, Buddhists and Atheists. Most of the killings in Muslim countries or regions have been the direct result of foreign interventions. These include the deaths in Afghanistan, as the results of Soviet and American invasions, Iran-Iraq war (which was fought at the behest of the US), and Iraq as the result of American invasions. The biggest pogroms of the history have taken place in Germany, Russia (both Christian countries) and China (Buddhists, other religions, atheists). Stalin and Hitler, two of the biggest killers of all times were Christians; few massacres that have taken place at the behest of Muslim rulers, like Saddam Hussein and Idi Amin, have been by those whose loyalty to their religion was almost negligible. While China and Russia hold the distinction for murdering their own people in maximum numbers for political ends, the credit of killing most people abroad goes to the US, especially during last 60 years. Apart from its role in the killings in the Second World War, it killed about half a million people in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, 3 million people in Vietnam and about 100, 000 people in Iraq. America’s role in Afghan’s struggle against Russia, Iran-Iraq war and Arab-Israeli conflicts is too well known to require elaboration.

The maximum number of militarymen killed in wars are also those of the current big powers that waged wars to dominate the world for their own expansionist and commercial ends. See the following table:

 

Military Death Toll

War

Dates

1

20,000,000

Second World War

1937-45

2

8,500,000

First World War

1914-18

3

1,200,000

Korean War

1950-53

4

1,200,000

Chinese Civil War

1945-49

5

1,200,000

Vietnam War

1965-73

6

850,000

Iran-Iraq War

1980-88

7

800,000

Russian Civil War

1918-21

8

400,000

Chinese Civil War

1927-37

9

385,000

French Indochina

1945-54

10

200,000

Mexican Revolution

1911-20

10

200,000

Spanish Civil War

1936-39

12

160,000

French-Algerian War

1954-62

13

150,000

Afghanistan

1980-89

14

130,000

Russo-Japanese War

1904-05

15

100,000

Riffian War

1921-26

15

100,000

First Sudanese Civil War

1956-72

15

100,000

Russo-Polish War

1919-20

15

100,000

Biafran War

1967-70

19

90,000

Chaco War

1932-35

20

75,000

Abyssinian War

1935-36

(Courtesy 1999 Matthew White)

Contrary to the lie propagated by Western media, Muslims have been subjected to violence by others rather than the vice versa. Russia killed millions of Muslims in Afghanistan, America killed hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Israel killed thousands in its conflict with Arabs. In all of these resistance movements or liberation struggles, Muslims were killed in very large numbers, while they killed much less. Here is the break-up, for example, of Israel-Arab conflicts, which have always been receiving much attention in the world media:

Arab-Israeli wars

·                                 I (1947-49): 6,373 Israeli and 15,000 Arabs die

·                                 II (1956): 231 Israeli and 3,000 Egyptians die

·                                 III (1967): 776 Israeli and 20,000 Arabs die

·                                 IV (1973): 2,688 Israeli and 18,000 Arabs die

·                                 Intifada I (1987-92): 170 Israelis and 1,000 Palestinians

·                                 Intifada II (2000-03): 700 Israelis and 2,000 Palestinians

After the terrorist attack on Twin Towers, there has been inundation of books and articles trying to prove that Muslims alone are involved in terrorism. We will discuss the causes of the rise of terrorism among Muslims later. But even the propaganda that all the terrorists are Muslims is blatantly false. The history of terrorism in Ireland is several decades old. Several splinter Ireland groups including PIRA, Real IRA and Continuity IRA have indulged in numerous attacks on British targets killing and injuring several thousands of people. Spain has been struggling with its own terrorism. Basque supporters, led by ETA, are fighting for the separation of Basque country from Spain and France. Since 1968, ETA has been involved in several terrorist attacks including the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain, Meliton Manzanas, secret police chief and Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, the CFO of El Diaro Vasco. An assassination attempt was also made on King Juan Carlos of Spain, which failed. Apart from these well-known groups, there are several relatively less known Christian terrorist organisations. These include

·                                 Christian Identity movement

·                                 Ku Klux Klan (A racist Protestant Christian organisation)

·                                 The Order (1980s-present)

·                                 Orange Volunteers

·                                 Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) (1969-present)

·                                 Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) (1997-present)

·                                 Ulster Defence Association (UDA) (1971-present)

·                                 Red Hand Defenders (1998-present)

·                                 Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) (May 1966-present)

·                                 Lord's Resistance Army (Christian/Pagan/Muslim) (1987-present) (Uganda)

·                                 Nagaland Rebels (1948-present) (Nagaland)

India has a long history of terrorist attacks involving Hindus and Sikhs. Sikh militancy in Punjab killed thousands in 1980s. The Government response to the movement culminated in an attack on Golden Temple in which hundreds of armymen and Sikh militants were killed. There have been separatist movements in Eastern India that led to killing of thousands of people in terrorist attacks. Naxalites have been killing people in several parts of India for almost half a century. The biggest seat of terrorist violence in the recent history has been Sri Lanka, where Hindu Tamils have been involved in terrorism for more than two decades; about one hundred thousand persons have become victims of this violence. In Nepal, Maoists have slaughtered several thousands in recent years. Maoists have more than 30000 fighters in their ranks and hundreds of thousands of sympathisers. Apart from these, leftist elements have a long history of guerrilla attacks in several parts of the world. The so-called International terrorism -- anything that involves America becomes "International"— perpetrated by Al-Qaeda has killed less than 5000 people. The war against this terrorism-either directly by US attacks or as a result of attacks by "insurgents" fighting American invaders in Iraq, has killed more than one hundred thousands of innocent Muslims. But for America, only their own people are innocents; their hearts bleed at every single American killed, but their eyes do not shed a drop of tear for thousands of Muslim innocents who lost lives just because a Super Power wanted to dominate their country. Thanks to the hate campaign by the media and some politicians, a large number of Americans seem to hate Muslims with the cores of their hearts. Such is the venom that flows down their veins that when some Muslim terrorists are involved in a bomb blast, they would shout, "Look, Muslims are murdering innocents", and when innocent Muslims get killed, they would mock at them, "all of them deserve to be killed."

 

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