Imposing ideology with the barrel of gun will escalate violence. Lack of religious tolerance and practicing of fundamental ideology resulted in mammoth destruction and human casualties. Followers of dogmatic schools of thoughts have been resorting to violence to force their mindsets upon a group or nation. They claimed to have adopted the right way and deemed others wrong. Their parochial views and deep-seated mentality left no room for exercising tolerance or nurturing the spirit of brotherhood.
Meanwhile, claiming racial superiority has also taken its toll on human societies and played destructive role throughout the history. The world has suffered carnage and massacre on the grounds of racial and religious backgrounds. Men’s megalomania and ethnocentric feelings were the main reasons behind international wars and civil unrests. Yielding to their lusts and desires, men humiliated their fellows and violated their rights and liberty – which triggered bloody wars and outraged human conscience.
Some fundamental groups resort to violence claiming that they aim to bring peace. Ironically, spilling the blood of innocent individuals, trampling upon their rights and liberty and creating anomy through acts of terror will never result in peace or stability. During their regime in Afghanistan, the Taliban alleged that they would establish the divine law on the surface of earth. Therefore, they massacred a large number of people who resisted their dogmatic beliefs or broke their self-styled taboos. Now, the question is that could they bring peace?
Peace will not be obtained through violence and radical ideology will not be implanted in the minds and hearts of people with the barrel of gun. Terrorist groups will inflict casualties upon nations as ever and fill the air with fear and horror but will never have a peaceful ending. Violence will create heart-wrenching stories, destroy societies, lead the world to instability and “create bitterness”.
Ill-fatedly, radical ideologues have exercised violent behaviors under sacred terms such as religion, moral standards and cultural values – as kings used to rule people under the same terms in the past and deemed themselves divine caliphs. The radicals still claim to establish caliphate on the surface of earth and to strengthen religious tenets or ethical code while their ideology is void of humanity and moral values. They have marginalized human values from their practical life and succumbed to evils and mean desires.
To gain peace and prosperity, a nation needs to nurture pluralistic, if not secular, view and be tolerant towards the beliefs and practices of others. A society, where the rights, liberty and dignity of the people are valued, will enjoy security. In other words, peace is obtained when a nation does not claim religious preference or racial superiority and people do not violate the rights of one another, mainly of a minority group, on the basis of their race, color and creed.
Human societies should learn from the history and bloody wars, including the World Wars which left millions dead and amputated, are to be eye-openers for the world, mainly for those who mastermind and support the terrorist networks. Since terrorist groups resist against superpowers and strong military forces and weapons, it is believed that terrorists are a vehicle, rather than ideologues, used in proxy wars.
As historical war brought nothing for human societies other than casualties and hostilities, the world needs to uphold the spirit of brotherhood to strengthen peace around the globe. The international instruments and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which were approved as a result of outrageous wars to curb violence and bloodshed, will be a panacea for the current challenges. The world has to practice upon international instruments and combat against terrorist networks, which has blackmailed the globe, to end violence. If a bona fide global operation be launched against terrorist networks especially on their safe havens, wherever they be, the instability and human causalities will be decreased to a great extent.
A vacuum for the spirit of brotherhood and lack of trust among the human societies on the one hand, and increase in radicalism on the other hand are the main challenges and the main reason behind the pain and suffering of mankind. The UDHR was endorsed to alleviate from the anguish of mankind, as it claims in its preamble, but since it has been marginalized from the human societies, violence and carnage persist around the globe. Militancy will not ebb unless international instruments are revived and tolerance is practiced in collective life.