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Undilah PAS : MENENTANG KEZALIMAN & MENEGAKKAN KEADILAN
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Source: www.khilafah.com
Lead Article
Chechnya, then and now
The consistent and tragic pattern of destruction
of Muslim lives and property sadly continues as
we again enter Ramadhan. No sooner does one front
close, but others open with Muslims in the
middle, and the pattern of oppression ever
increasing as we continue without the guidance
and protection of the Khilafah. Chechnya opens
several new twists to the international intrigue,
with dangerous signs of conspiracies to divide
and weaken us via factionalism and Madhabism and
the complicity of the regimes in Islamic
countries reaching even more appalling and odious
levels. Unlike Kosovo where it was in the
interest of the US to highlight the problems and
they cleverly used it to their ends, Chechnya is
largely ignored as it is convenient for the World
powers to look the other way. In this Ramadhan
issue of Khilafah
magazine we present an historical background to
the area and expose the current motivation of the
conflict.
History of the Region
Chechnya is part of the Caucasus region situated
between the Caspian and Black Seas. The Caucasus
represents: Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia to
the South (which all gained independence from
Russia in 1991). And Chechnya, Dagestan, North
Ossetia, Ingushetia and Circassia, to the North,
which are all considered by Russia as part of
Russia and under the authority of Moscow. Islam
reached the lands of the Caucasus towards the end
of the period of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (r.a.) as
Khaleefah. The greater part of it became a part
of the Islamic lands (Dar al-Islam) during the
period of 'Uthman (r.a.). During the Umayyah
Khilafah the whole of the Caucasus, due to the
conquests of Maslamah b. 'Abd al-Malik, became
part of the
Islamic lands. Even despite the conquest of the
Mongols during the Abbasid Khilafah the region
remained under Islam as the Mongols themselves
embraced Islam in circa 1256 CE and ultimately
became the protectors of the Islamic
civilisation. And the authority of Islam extended
within Russia, to Siberia and even Moscow itself.
In 1578 CE the Caucasus were under the control
of the Ottoman Khilafah. In 1722 CE the Russia
Tsar Peter the Great launched an attack on the
Caucasus and occupied a part of it at a time when
the Ottoman Khilafah was preoccupied with wars in
central Europe. However, the people of the
Caucasus rose up against Russian occupation, and
were assisted in this by the Safavid State. By
1735 CE they were able to drive out the Russians.
However, the Tsars returned and occupied vast
areas of the Caucasus. Throughout all of these
periods of occupation the Muslims of these lands
always rejected the Russian occupiers and
constantly staged armed revolts against them.
Revolts were led by Ash-Sheikh Mansur
ash-Shishani between 1785 CE and 1794 CE, al-Imam
al-Ghazi Mawla Muhammad from 1824 CE to 1832 CE,
Imam Shamil led continuous battles against the
Russians between 1832 CE and 1859 CE. After the
capture and subsequent expulsion of Imam Shamil
the revolt continued under the leadership of the
Chechen 'Awmaduyev', and under the movements of
'Tabi Adayev', 'Zilmayev', and the Chechen leader
'Ali Bek Haji' whose movement the Russians wiped
out before they executed him in Grozy in 1878 CE.
The Russians also tried to divert the Muslims
away from political action and Jihad and to
direct them towards Sufi orders which gave vent
to their zeal and enthusiasm through dhikr
circles. However, this was all to no avail as all
of the Muslims, Sufis or otherwise, used to rush
at every opportunity to fight the Kafir Russian
aggressors.
The struggle continued during the communist era
until Stalin in 1944 undertook the burning,
killing and forced expulsion of the Chechenpeople
and those around them to Siberia, Kazakhstan and
elsewhere under the pretext that they were
helping the Germans and not loyal to the Soviet
Union. They remained displaced until 1957 when
Khruschev agreed to let them return to their
lands.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and
with all around declaring independence, Chechnya
too claimed it in November 1991 (although no
country of the world recognised it). Then
followed another war of oppression by the
Russians which lasted from December 94 to August
96. The Russian army suffered heavy losses of
life and equipment and Chechnya achieved a
spectacular victory which startled the world.
Russia was forced to sign an agreement on the
31st of August 96 (it was signed by General
Alexander Lebed) and then sign a peace treaty on
the 12th of May 97 (signed by Yeltsin) and by
Aslan Maskhadov the president of Chechnya. The
treaty stipulated the building of relationships
between the two countries according to
international law and that it would not be
allowed to use arms or threats to solve conflicts
between the two countries. The treaty did not
stipulate that Chechnya should remain part of
Russia or be independent, however the treaty did
recognise the agreement of 31st Aug. 96 which
included that a popular referendum should be held
in Chechnya by 31st Dec. 2001, to determine the
fate of its independence. Chechnya came to
conduct itself as a de facto independent state.
And the world came to deal with it as an actual
independent state.
Today's Reality
The Russians have shamelessly broken their
agreements with Chechnya. Smokescreen excuses
have been put to trample over the people.
Bombings in Moscow and the supposed threat of the
establishment of an all-encompassing Islamic
state in Dagestan have been used to justify their
atrocities on the Chechen peoples. No one
believes that the bombings were anything other
than a Russian scheme to justify their attacks
(Muslim leaders have vehemently denied
involvement in an action which has no purpose),
and no one seriously thinks that "the" fully
functioning Islamic state could be established in
such a small area bounded as it is by aggressors
on all sides. The objective remains to obliterate
the people as hard-line Prime minister Vladimir
Putin, declared on the 8th of November that 'the
bandit republic' had to be 'eliminated'. At the
OSCE conference held in Istanbul ten days later,
Interior minister Vladimir Rushailo said "The
task remains unchanged - to destroy the
militants". The world's media is quick to link
bombing and training activity to US public enemy
no. 1 Ossama bin Laden in an attempt to vilify
the Chechens and their supporters, hoping to link
them to so-called international terrorism. The
Russians have also tried
unsuccessfully to drive a wedge between the
Muslims in Chechnya seeking to divide Sufi and
Salafi orientations against each other, by
encouraging the funding of Salafi movements in a
hope that this would lead to civil war against
the majority Sufi's in the land. This tactic is
reminiscent of old style Russian attempts to
divide and conquer the Muslims. With the failure
of this tactic direct occupation of Chechnya has
now been adopted, particularly as the defeats of
94-96 have not been forgotten.
Hypocrisy of the West
From a stance of previous condemnation the US
and Western nations are now tacitly accepting
Russia's position in Chechnya. At the OSCE
conference which was held in Istanbul during the
18th and 19th of
November there was no direct criticism against
Russia for her brutality in Chechnya, and there
has been no let up over loan guarantees via the
IMF to Russia. Why the turnaround? It appears as
though a deal has been done. The 'New York Times'
published on the 19th of November that the
Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov handed an
unofficial letter to the American secretary of
state Madeleine Albright during their meeting in
Turkey on the 18th which included the proposal of
a 'deal' where the US would overlook the Russian
military operations in Chechnya in return for:
'we are preparing to issue instructions to the
Russian delegate in the Security Council so that
he will be flexible regarding the issue of Iraq'.
The mutual understanding means a backing down of
the Kremlin's hardline stance towards the issue
of Iraq and Yugoslavia in return for stopping the
American administration from applying any strong
pressure on Russia over the issue of Chechnya.
The agreement to extend the oil and gas pipelines
from Azerbaijan to Turkey could also be part of
this deal. US secretary of State Madeleine
Albright confirmed the pliant approach to Russia
upon her return from Turkey when she said: "The
last thing I think that we should be doing is
trying to turn Russia back into an enemy," she
continued, adding that "it is essential to have a
functioning relationship with Russia". Of course
it was also in US interest to neutralise Russian
ally Serbia and plant her feet firmly in the
Balkans in the Kosovo conflict, hence, the
concern for human rights, etc. shown in that
case.
The Silence of the Lambs
No one is surprised when the US or Russia do
"deals" over the blood of Muslims, but that the
regimes of the Islamic world will not even speak
of the issue takes them to new depths of
depravity. To stop support for Chechnya from the
Islamic countries the Russian foreign ministry
sent delegations, to explain to them that she is
only against terrorism and terrorists. The
response of the rulers to Russia was beyond the
limit.
The Prime minister of Turkey Bulent Ecevit even
undertook a visit to Moscow on the 5th of
November and announced that the question of
Chechnya is an internal matter which is Russia's
concern, and he signed a joint anti-terrorism
agreement implying that the Chechen fighters were
terrorists. Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov sent
letters to US president Clinton and other western
leaders appealing for his people's plight to be
raised at the OSCE conference. He even appealed
to the Pope and is quoted as saying that he did
this because of the inaction of the Islamic
countries.
The silence of the leaders of the Islamic
countries has been deafening.
Conclusions
No one can down play the proud history of the
Chechen Muslims. They have regularly had to face
the aggression of Russia, and to this day
continue to struggle. Many of that region have
also sought to establish Islam while so many
Muslims sit by idly watching, or dealing with
trivial local matters.
We should also feel great sorrow and pain that
the nations of the world are feasting on the
Muslims in their own lands by killing, torture,
and widespread violation of respect and honour
without the Muslim armies moving to help them.
Even the bland statements of denunciation and
rejection the rulers in the Islamic countries
have become used to making, now, they don't even
have the courage to do that.
The real responsibility to solve this conflict
lies not in appeals to the Kafir nations, that
will only move when the circumstances coincide
with their own interests, but in the
establishment of a true ruler and that unique
Islamic system in our lands whereby the Muslim
armies will again move in response to the pleas
of help from a brother or sister in a far off
land. Indeed the responsibility to work for this
Khilafah system lies weightily on the shoulders
of all Muslims.
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