PRESS
RELEASE
Al-Qaeda Surrogate Islamic Group in Southern Kurdistan
Destroys Sufi Shrines
Recent
reports from the Hawraman area of Southern Kurdistan (Kurdistan
of Iraq) detail the desecration of tombs and the destruction of
centuries-old shrines of the Naqshbandi Sufi order by the Islamic
group Ansar al-Islam. In addition to this outrageous attack on
Kurdish cultural and religious heritage, they also drove out the
peaceful population of Tawellah, Biarah, and Bakha Kon from their
homes, lands, and towns.
This
destruction of sacred religious sites bears striking similarities
to the Taliban’s destruction of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan
Buddhist monuments in 2001. This similarity and the direct links
between Al-Qaeda and Ansar-al-Islam become more evident when one
considers the presence of hundreds of Afghans, Chechens, and Arabs
(routed from Afghanistan by US wrath) among this rogue Islamic
group
Biarah
has served as a religious center for Sufism and Islamic teachings
for hundreds of years. The Kurdish people pride themselves on
being free thinkers who have established the only true democracy
in the region and have allowed all religions, including Islam,
Judaism, Christianity, Yazidiah, and Sufism, to flourish in the
area.
This
repugnant act of digging graves and removing remains is but the
latest atrocity committed by Ansar al-Islam. Fighting broke out
between a similar group called “Jund al-Islam” and
the Kurdish regional forces in September 2001. After ambushing
and capturing 42 (PUK) Kurdish troops, they summarily executed
them and mutilated the bodies. They have imposed Taliban-style
religious codes on the population of Biarah and surrounding villages,
banning music and photographs, destroying schools for girls, and
requiring Kurdish woman to remain covered even at home - contrary
to Islamic tenets. Several women have been brutally murdered for
defying the group’s strict version of Islamic law.
The
Kurdish National Congress strongly condemns this latest outrage
by Ansar al-Islam and by other fringe groups. Such acts are not
only an affront to Kurds and the rest of the civilized world,
but are also futile and reckless attempts by outside powers to
destabilize the successful democratic experiment in Southern Kurdistan.
They must be dealt with sternly.
July
28, 2002
