Human Life over God!

Off lately, the still photograph of ISIS militants clad in black, wielding either a Kalashnikov or knife standing behind their victims clad in orange jumpsuit keeling on the barren ground, has become all too frequent. The victims belong to various nationalities, ranging from US to UK to Japan being the latest. The mark of similarity is not only restricted to the same barren background or the carefully coordinated costume colour of the victim and the militant. What is strikingly similar is the expression on the face of all the victims. What really leaves a lasting and painfully disturbing impression is the image of the naked fear in the eye of the victims who are painfully made aware of the fact that death is awaiting just around the corner and that they are hanging on to the few precious living moments at the mercy of the Kalashnikov wielding militants. This powerfully moving imagery relayed all across the globe on account of ISIS’s access to the internet has impact at multiple levels. It once again reiterates the impact of a picture on human psychology. When you read statistics in the newspaper about the loss of human lives caught in cross fire, you are more often than not, not affected by it and often tend to ignore it terming it as “collateral damage” necessary for greater good. However, when you see these gory videos, it pulls the carpet off your feet. Numerically speaking, the number of victims may be few or far off between. But you take the loss at a personal level. You feel the pain of the victim and the family. It unnerves and disturbs you at a level you may have not imagined.


Presuming if there are no third-party string pullers who are using this militant organization for ulterior motives and presuming if there are individuals of twisted mentality who are day dreaming about establishing a medieval era’s power structures consisting of Caliphate based rule; some relevant questions are worth analysing organization. Is the ISIS smart or plainly stupid? While it certainly succeeds in drawing attention to itself by means of circulating these disturbing videos, what does it stand to achieve at any level in the long run? I hope the stalwarts behind the organization are aware of the fact that they are looked down upon as a bunch of blood sucking barbarians who operate on the basis of the most twisted ideology that has no place in the rational world. I hope that they are also aware of the fact that all that they succeed in is bringing bad name to Islam! I hope they have the common sense to understand that a Caliphate style power structure does not fit in the 21st century global geo-political world. 

However, if the above presumptions are incorrect, and there are indeed string pullers behind the scene, it is worth evaluating who is sponsoring ISIS? Who funds them to buy weapons, missiles and warfare machinery that is lethal enough to uproot the incumbent government in Iraq and Syria? Are there bigger players here? What are their ulterior motives? Is it again about controlling the oil economy in the Middle East? What are the string pullers intending to achieve by keeping the Middle-East in the state of constant war? What is the human price of the war? For how long will it continue? Have they evaluated the global consequences of creating one more Frankenstein monster? Have they not learnt anything from the past? These questions merit urgent attention.

Whether it is the power struggle to establish Caliphate or market struggle to control oil economy, the common denominator of sacrifice is human life in either case. This speaks volumes about the value of human race as a whole. I believe the beginning of the end of this senseless violence would commence when we start valuing human life over and above anything else! Human life over money! Human life over power! Human life over superior notions of individual faith! Human life over God! I don’t see any other way!