Declaration of a caliphate is mere political propaganda that must end

The inception of the Islamic State (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) in Syria and its spread into Iraq has stained the region’s recent past.

Last week, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi proclaimed himself as “the successor”, the caliph of this new caliphate he wishes to impose by force on the Arab world.

“The emergence of a leader for the Islamic State renews fears as someone has finally come to unite this scattered group that is based on symbolism, history and religion,” writes Abdul Rahman Al Rashed in the pan-Arab daily Asharq El Awsat.

“Al Baghdadi’s emergence ends the sterility of Al Qaeda, one that has lasted three years as it was left unable to proclaim a successor to Osama bin Laden,” he remarked.

“He is another version of bin Laden, a model of religious failure in the Sunni community who has failed to stop the culture of extremism by failing to find a cultural alternative,” opined Al Rashed.

“We now stand before a new war, that may last a decade or two,” he concluded.

“In fact, the Islamic State has announced its true intentions and political ambitions and such a clumsy approach will lead its current allies to re-examine the whole alliance,” wrote Aysha Al Marri in Al Ittihad, The National’s Arabic-language sister newspaper.

“The Islamic State’s latest declaration reveals a sharp disparity between political objectives of Sunni tribes and the remnants of Baathists and military who are now fighting under its black banners out of hatred for Mr Al Maliki’s policies and for the Islamic State’s long-term goals,” she explained.

The declaration of a caliphate is mere political propaganda.

“It may reach some fools and delude them with illusions of an Islamic Caliphate, though it will definitely create a rift between the Islamic State and its allies, eventually leading all illusions to their end,” she concluded.

“Many people in the region may not agree with the Islamic State’s brutality and violence, but they stand implicitly with its extremist religious approach that locks women behind closed doors, and thrash those who do not wear the veil the ‘Islamic State way’, or whoever listens to music and plays football, as this lifestyle makes them feel closer to reaping rewards,” wrote Amal Abdelaziz Al Hazzani in the pan-Arab Asharq Al Awsat.

Extremism is the seed of evil, it is sown and grown to be fed to a society, making it docile and easily manipulated, she wrote.

“In my opinion, eliminating the Islamic State is a complex task, for which responsibility should be distributed among five parties,” remarked Abdullah Nasser Al Otaibi in the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat.

The first party is the Iraqi Sunnis and “they should be more Iraqi than Al Maliki himself,” he wrote.

“The second party to this equation is Kurdistan and the delay in declaring its independence from Iraq and joining the United Nations as a new ‘ethnic’ state,’” said Al Otaibi.

“The international community as a whole (and Iran and Turkey in particular) totally reject any division of Iraq in such circumstances.”

The third party is the Iraqi government, namely Mr Al Maliki as the Islamic State’s activities were serving his purposes and his lenience towards extremism changed as the Islamic State transformed into a real danger for Iraq’s future, he remarked.

The fourth party gathers regional powers, namely Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran.

Tensions between the three countries allowed the Islamic State to spread in the absence coordination on security.

The fifth party is the West and namely the “US who must refrain from interfering in our business and help solve such issues instead.”

Translated by ­Carla Mirza

cmirza@thenational.ae