Islamists prepare for new
role By Syed Saleem Shahzad
LONDON - The great 2011 Arab revolt has
changed the dynamics of the Muslim world,
especially in the thinking of anti-Western Islamic
groups operating in the Middle East and North
Africa that are now finding common ground with the
democratic forces in their countries.
The
magnitude of the change is such that it has set
off fierce debate among Western policymakers on a
key question: what are the chances of peace if
Islamic groups are allowed to engage in mainstream
political processes? And further, in what way
might this affect al-Qaeda?
"Al-Qaeda is
considered an organization that is against all
nation states of the world," a senior British
counter-terrorism official told
Asia Times Online on
condition of anonymity when asked of the
possibility of Western intelligence agencies
opening up channels of communication with
al-Qaeda, like they have done with the Taliban.
"However, we have seen that some Arab
states have not only communicated with al-Qaeda,
they have at times struck successful deals with
them which have continued for many years. This
shows that al-Qaeda is not opaque and is amenable
to major policy shifts," the official said.
The major developments in Egypt within
Islamist camps following the ouster of president
Hosni Mubarak have forced Western capitals to
review their thinking on al-Qaeda.
Egypt
is the motherland of neo-Islamists, the home of
Muslim Brotherhood societies and underground
militant groups that gravitated to Afghanistan to
form an "Egyptian camp" that became al-Qaeda's
linchpin. (See Al-Qaeda's
unfinished work).
The revolt in Egypt
was a major windfall for the neo-Islamists
released from jail in large numbers. They include
leaders like Abboud al-Zumar, the founder of the
Jamaatul Jihad that assassinated president Anwar
Sadat in 1981 and which was led by al-Qaeda's
ideologue, Egyptian Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, in the
1980s.
Not everyone believes, however,
that the Islamists will necessarily triumph.
Abboud al-Zumar, a former colonel and military
intelligence official, spent 30 years in jail and
believes democracy will prevent Islamists from
ever again taking up guns against the state.
"I speak almost every other day to Zumar,"
Yassar al-Sirri told Asia Times Online. Sirri is
an Egyptian dissident based in London and is the
director of the Islamic Observation Center.
"He [Zumar] cast his vote in the recent
referendum in Egypt [on constitutional reform]
which shows his trust in democracy. I and many
other friends have recommended to him to contest
in the next presidential elections [in September].
Whether he agrees with that or not, he will
certainly take part in the election process by
supporting somebody else," said Sirri, who in 1994
was sentenced to death in absentia for his alleged
involvement in a failed assassination attempt on
former Egyptian prime minister Atef Sedki, in
which a young girl was killed.
Sirri
denies the charge. He was also accused in the
British media of being involved in the September
9, 2001, assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the
leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, which was
carried out by al-Qaeda hitmen. Sirri is wanted by
United States as well as Egyptian authorities. He
was arrested by the British government to be
passed on to the Americans but a United Kingdom
court ordered his release.
Only a few
militants remain in Egyptian jails, including
Rafah Taha of the International Islamic Front.
"At the moment, there is a bid for all
detained Islamists - whichever group they belong
to and even those that are run by the likes of
Showki al-Islambouli [allegedly involved in an
attempt to murder Mubarak and who is believed to
be in the regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Iran] - to be cleared of the false charges under
which they were tried and sentenced," Sirri said.
"All major Islamic groups are now in
consultation for a joint strategy in this regard.
The outcome will be very positive, that is, all
Islamists will lay down their weapons and will
continue their struggle through democratic
processes." Sirri added that their earlier
struggles were peaceful but repressive Middle
Eastern regimes, especially in Egypt, choked all
arteries for them to operate through peaceful
political means.
"Even organizations like
al-Qaeda turned against Western governments
because they facilitated tyrant Muslim regimes,"
said Sirri, who has contacted the Egyptian Embassy
in London to obtain a passport so he can return to
Egypt.
“I will not write an apology and
nor will I request an amnesty because all the
charges against me were false. I will simply go
back to Egypt and play a role in politics," Sirri
said.
Sirri attempted to save the life of
British citizen Kenneth Bigley, who was abducted
by an extremist group led by Jordanian Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi in 2004 in Iraq. At Sirri's request,
Bigley was spared for several weeks, unlike the
two Americans who were abducted with him. However,
when the Americans launched operations against
Zarqawi, he killed Bigley before escaping.
Sirri believes that if the present trends
continue and militants are dealt with as human
beings, he would welcome people like Zawahiri back
Egypt to be a part of the political process.
"Now, all Islamic groups are in
consultation and they have developed a consensus
for a few broader aims, These are welfare, the
need for dawa [missionary activities] and
peaceful political struggle," Sirri said.
Earlier, al-Qaeda ideologues issued 20
guidelines for jihad in which they emphasized the
need for the political mainstreaming of al-Qaeda
and urged reconnection with Islamic political
groups and the Muslim intelligentsia. (See Broadside
fired at al-Qaeda leaders Asia Times Online,
December 10, 2010.)
For Western capitals,
talking to al-Qaeda remains out of the question at
this stage. Nonetheless, it is an issue that for
the first time is being given some consideration;
Egypt was a major catalyst in the change of
thinking.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is
Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief and
author of upcoming book Inside al-Qaeda and
the Taliban, beyond 9/11 published by Pluto
Press, UK. He can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
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