Counter Narrative to Terrorism Imperative

Counter Narrative to Terrorism Imperative

A seminar organised under the title of “World After 9/11” was hosted at the House of Commons with TWS yesterday where it was unanimously agreed that a counter narrative to terrorism was imperative. The seminar was opened with remarks from Khalid Mahmood MP who said that the implications of war and the steps leading up to it need to understood first before action is taken. Since the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, the UK must challenge traditional ways of doing things; if the people of the country we are going into doesn’t understand democracy and the rule of law, there is no point in exporting our system.

Toaha Qureshi MBE, Chairman FIRD, laid out the historical context of the Al Qaeda and perhaps most importantly cleared the myths that Al Qaeda were created by Pakistan and Afghanistan; quoting former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton “We also have a history of kind of moving in and out of Pakistan. I mean, let’s remember here: The people we are fighting today we funded 20 years ago .. We then left Pakistan. We now are making up for a lot of lost time.” Speaking on the effects of invading countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, he added that there are now more terrorist groups and organisations that are working to destabilise the world than there were before the invasion. Whilst making recommendations, he suggested that there needs to be a clear foreign policy that stops the government from sponsoring terrorist cells and then making U-turns, giving the example of the government previously supporting the rebels in Syria only to now attack them with the support of Iran, another “enemy” of the West.

Mr Qureshi closed his keynote by saying that countries that the West needs to work with are being played and isolated, but with their support a positive counter narrative would be able to stop further atrocities. The demonization of Islam and states such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria etc. would lead to further destabilisation of the region that is now the hotbed of terrorist activities. He recommended dialogue and back channel communications before the use of force is considered.

Mushtaq Lasharie commented saying that the events of 9/11 had been building up for some time and consequently the countries that had nothing to do with the event became the biggest victims. He also questioned why freedom fights had now been labelled as acts of terrorism across the West since there had been many freedom fights in the decades prior to 9/11.

Kemal Alam opened his address with comments saying that after 9/11 there were two countries that were focused on: Pakistan and Syria. Terrorists had initially been eliminated by Syria and they had come under their control, including the Sunnis in Fallujah and Shias in Basra but also the groups in Lebanon. Despite the support from Iraq, Syria and Pakistan to eliminate extremist groups, they were isolated and made pariahs as well as the West fuelling a Sunni-Shia conflict. He continued saying that by destabilising Syria, the West has created a major problem in the Middle East which has run rampant. If issues are to be resolved in the Middle East, then the government should adhere to the Oxford scholar Partick Seale’s advice that the West should work with the Assad regime to ensure global security. Mr Alam ended his speech by calling the government to work with Assad since they have worked with dictators of Tunisia, Chile and Saudia Arabia.

Sabah Al-Mukhtar, President of the Arab Lawyers, said that the event of 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq, yet it was made synonymous with the tragic event. The people of Iraq were promised liveration and democracy but this was enacted through troops on the ground and occupation. As a consequence, for every western death there were 5000 Iraqi people that were killed. In the 2003 war there was a huge amount of dishonesty and in 2014 the government is repeating its mistake again, which must be avoided at all costs. The Chilcot Inquiry into the first war in Iraq will highlight further the errors we made. There is a need to counter what the media is saying and bring out the truth.

Former journalist Saundra Satterlee highlighted that the CIA had provided groups that were anti-Assad with weapons and those very same weapons ended up in the hands of ISIS; it showed clear double standards which needed to be dealt with. Dr Steven O’Brien, professor at Portsmouth University, stated that the lure of the myth of ISIS has been attracting people to travel from the UK and join.

Umar Mahmood queried the panel on what is being done to deradicalise those people travelling to Israel to join the IDF and those travelling to Syria to join ISIS, saying that rather than stopping them from returning, the government should put in place to mechanisms which are more long term. The seminar was closed by Lord Qurban Hussain who echoed the words of Toaha Qureshi MBE, saying that the causes of radicalisation need to be looked at because people are using the U-turn policy of the government to incite hatred. Drawing parallels between CIA and the Taliban, Lord Qurban said that although both captured women, the state of Dr Aafia Siddiqui with the CIA is much worse than journalist Yvonne Ridley who had been held captive by the Taliban.