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IRAQ: Shias Emerge from the Shadows
By Sanjay Suri
LONDON, Apr 12 (IPS) - Shia leaders do not speak of the desire to dominate a
new Iraq; they speak only of their belief in democracy and letting the
people choose. In a fair election, the two would come to the same thing.
For the first time the Shias, an estimated 65 per cent in a population of
24 million are looking to control the destiny of Iraq. But many Shia leaders
do not like to say so.
"Whoever is elected by the majority will be accepted," says Dr Hamid Al
Bayatti from the Supreme Council for Islamic Resistance in Iraq (SCIRI).
This is a leading Shia group in northern Iraq which controls a large group
of Shia militants called the Badr Brigade.
Latif Rashid from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) says it is not
necessary that "Shia leaders would speak for the Shias, Sunni leaders for
the Sunnis or Kurdish leaders only for Kurds." Everyone wants to build a
"new Iraq which does not exclude anyone and where power comes only through
the ballot box."
But the tension between Shias and Sunnis has surfaced in frightening ways
on the streets of Baghdad and around Iraq. The brutal assassination of Shia
leader Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, who went to Iraq from Britain just two weeks
back, is only one indication of the extent of religious animosities within
Iraq.
Al-Khoei, who has met British Prime Minister Tony Blair several times,
was hacked to death by a mob carrying swords outside the Shrine of Ali in
Najaf, one of the most sacred mosques for Shias. He had fled to London in
1991 after the repression of Shias following the first Gulf War. He returned
to Najaf and immediately began radio broadcasts under U.S. pressure to ask
people to support the coalition troops.
"This has been a bad beginning," says Al Bayatti. Dr Laith Kubbah, an
academic who has held leading positions in the Iraqi opposition over the
last 20 years says "it is a sign of the degree of tension among Iraqis. And
this happened in the holiest city. It shows how things will go in other
cities unless the situation is taken head on." Kubbah is co-founder of the
Iraq National Group based in Washington.
Shia and Sunni Muslims have a long history of violence. The Shias were
historically a group that supported Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet
Mohammed. Ali, who was a caliph (religious leader and ruler) was murdered in
the year 661 AD, and was replaced by his chief rival Muawiya. Ali's
followers since then have been known as Shias.
The schism ran down generations. Muawiya was succeeded by his son Yazid.
Ali's son Hussein challenged Yazid, and that led to a battle between the
followers of the two. Hussein and his followers were massacred at a battle
in Karbala in present day Iraq in 680. That makes Karbala among the holiest
shrines to Shias, and Iraq itself a holy land. Shias believe a new Imam will
come to earth to save them from oppression the have suffered since.
Al-Khoei was massacred outside the Shrine of Ali in Najaf.
A divide between Shias and Sunnis has continued into present times in
Iraq. Iraqi forces under a Sunni leadership fought an eight-year war with
Shia Iran from 1980. Under Saddam Hussein the minority Sunnis have held the
dominant position in government and the military. Sunnis have also held top
businesses and are among the leading professionals in Iraq.
The looting in Baghdad and other Iraqi towns has been reported widely to
be the work of the deprived Shia majority. The first place that saw mobs
come out on a looting spree was Saddam City in Baghdad, home to about one
million Shias.
The Shias here and in the south rose in open rebellion at the end of the
last Gulf War. But they felt betrayed that the U.S. troops that had seemed
to offer deliverance left them at the mercy of Saddam Hussein. Thousands of
Shias were reported tortured and killed by Saddam's men. Iraq is the only
Arab country with a Shia majority.
Iraq itself is a creation of the British in the twenties after British
forces invaded Iraq. Britain put the Shia areas in the south, the
Sunni-dominated areas in the centre and the Kurdish north into a single
country for their administrative purposes. Historically the different groups
have governed themselves or been governed as separate entities.
The assembly of all these people into a single country that is looking at
elections for the first time gives Shias sight of power for the first time.
The split is not just showing but widening: the Shias have welcomed the
Americans, and it is mostly Sunnis who have begun to speak against them.
(ENDS/IPS/MM/WD/IP/SS/RAJ/03)
= 04121719 ORP015
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(END/2003)
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