A man who sold women for $10 now

Abu Mohammed Al Julani says he’s a changed man and disavows his al-Qaeda past, but sources close to him say this is hard to believe

I thought of writing about local affairs this week, but something I found out about Abu Mohammed Al Julani, the man who led the blitzkrieg which forced Syrian President Bashar Al Assad into exile, means I should say that first before moving on.

It is no secret that Al Julani wasn’t just another ISIS recruit, but played a key role wielding much power and influence during the Islamic State’s short but brutal reign in Iraq, Syria and other captured territories. He organised mass executions as well as mass rapes in places under his control, and sold women from minorities and other religious faiths for ten dollars each on the streets.

My source for this information is retired Col. Douglas McGregor, retired US army colonel, author and political commentator. I generally take him as a reliable source on Ukraine, Gaza and military matters. He’s well-informed, outspoken and neither pro-American nor anti-Russian in his analyses. Therefore, I believe what he says about Julani to be correct.

A man who sold women into sexual slavery for ten dollars now wants to present himself to the world as a statesman. In the dirty and dark labyrinth of world politics, one can always find grim ironies, but it will be hard to beat this one.

Julani says he’s a changed man and disavows his al-Qaeda past, but sources close to him say this is hard to believe.

The coming weeks will decide if Syria, considered the most liberal of all Arab countries,  is going to be another Afghanistan with women reduced to slavery. There is no doubt, however, that it’s a victim of a great power game between Turkey, the US, and Israel.

All three countries wanted Assad out. The American goal of ousting Assad dates back to Barack Obama. Russia’s power and influence in Syria was a stumbling block, and Russian airpower helped Assad to hold on to power since 2015.

This time, however, the rebel advance was so swift and unexpected that Russia would have had to commit ground forces to help Assad. But the war in Ukraine made that impossible.

The rebels advanced into Damascus in two weeks because Israel provided air cover and Turkey gave logistical support. 

I am quite happy that the brutal reign of Bashar Al Assad is finished. But Syria is in deep trouble.

Hafez Al Assad was a manipulator who played all sides. He even made a deal with Tel Aviv promising not to attack Israel or Israeli-held Syrian territories.

Dictators are manipulative, and world powers always find them useful for various agendas until they step out of line. Saddam Hussein was fine to the Americans as long as he fought a wasteful and pointless war with the Iranians, but they had to get rid of him when he invaded Kuwait for its oil. 

If we go even further back, Adolf Hitler was fine even as he annexed Austria, and then Czechoslovakia (with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain shouting ‘peace in our time’ as the German army performed what historians called the ‘rape of Czechoslovakia) because ‘Herr Hitler’ was seen as a bulwark against Soviet Russia and communism (even as Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with Joseph Stalin).

All this while all German Jews were forced to wear yellow stars when going out, and those married to ‘Aryan’ Germans were forced to stand in the streets with humiliating signboard hanging from their necks, and the Nazis’ ‘Final Solution’ was being meticulously planned out.

Just as the Nazis were good guys to Western leaders as long as Hitler pretended his principal goal was to destroy Russia and communism, media in the US and elsewhere in the West, along with government agencies, are working to paint a positive image of former Al Qaeda figures such as Al Julani.

But let’s turn our attention to a local news item now. A Dec. 12 page five story in this paper states that MP Ramanathan Archuna has behaved in a controversial manner at the Jaffna teaching hospital. Its director Dr. T. Sathyamoorthy says that the MP visited the hospital unannounced and attempted to meet him without prior permission, and that he insisted on being called ‘sir’ when the hospital director wanted to address him as ‘honourable member of parliament.’

The high handed manner in which our politicians often treat others is nothing new. But I will focus on this issue of the MP allegedly insisting on being called ‘sir’ by the doctor.

There is something feudal in our social order which is very hard to eradicate even after all the social upheavals of the past decades. It isn’t just the politicians. Traffic police constables like to be addressed as ‘sir’ by bus, lorry or three wheeler drivers. One can give many other examples in our civil and administrative services as well as in the private sector.

In administration or in an office, ‘sir’ is used as a honorific to address superiors. There is nothing wrong with that. In a supermarket, sales staff are expected to address customers as ‘sir’ or ‘madam’ regardless of their social status, though this rarely happens now. Receptionists do the same. Students address their teachers as ‘sir,’ ‘madam’, or ‘miss.’

But there is such custom in politics. A party member may address his party leader as ‘sir’ or ‘madam,’ but this should be a matter of courtesy, not servitude. If a politician insists that a public official, or any member of the public, call him ‘sir,’ then that isn’t a question of courtesy, but of servitude.

Interestingly, I once met a municipal MP of a so-called progressive party where people call each other ‘comrade,’ and he insisted that I should call him ‘honourable member of parliament’ (‘garu manthree thuma’ though he was just a municipal MP), which made me laugh.

Why can’t we simply call them Mr. or Mrs. so and so? There is a pecking order in this. Mr. president, Madam president, Mr. Minister, etc. but for a MP (throw a stone at any bush and dozens will fall out) why not Mr. so and so? 

Recently, I saw his photo on FB, with a smug smile and a swimming pool as wide as the Indian Ocean behind him. Congratulations to you, dear sir.

I think these political animals are all the same under the skin, no matter what colour they wear on those skins.

Finally, there was that harrowing video of a three wheeler driver clubbing a dog to death because it had chased his vehicle, barking. Dogs do that all over the world, no one quite knows why. The faster people go, the faster they chase. If you slow down, they will slow down too, and stop the chase.

This isn’t the first gruesome case of cruelty against animals we have heard. The man was arrested after public protests, but a judge will let him go after a fine of Rs. 100.

There is a new, updated bill waiting with stricter laws and fines, but no one is taking notice. Thanks to former president Chandrika Kumaratunga’s efforts, the state no longer slaughters stray dogs. But members of the public do. All our leaders since then have been too busy liberating us, and promising us paradise, to pay attention to this pressing issue. I doubt if the present lot will be any better, pre-occupied as they are with making us prosperous again and liberating us from the claws of the IMF.