Intra-religious strife lacerating Iraq

Next to the mind-numbing number of lives being lost, what is most disquieting about the current round of bloody Sunni-Shia strife in mainly Iraq and Pakistan, are the deep divisions in the Muslim community worldwide it is triggering.

Referring to the disconcertingly rising displacements and refugee movements across Iraq's borders the Sunni - Shia clashes are precipitating, a report filed by the International Organisation for Migration said - among other things - that refugees are "leaving mixed communities for more homogeneous communities". In other words, the internal polarities in civil societies such as Iraq are widening, causing tremendous intra-religious strife and disharmony.

Such developments compound the crises brought about by identity-based conflicts. As if inter-religious tensions are not bad enough, the world is now confronted with the dangerously burgeoning phenomenon of intra-religious conflicts; in this instance, the aggravating strife between the Shia and Sunni sects. The current bloodletting accompanying the Ashura ceremony in Iraq and Pakistan, dramatizes this division as never before. According to UN estimates, some 3000 people are being killed in Iraq every month. On Tuesday alone tit-for-tat killings in Iraq claimed 56 lives.

In Pakistan, rising killings in sectarian violence, concentrated in the North-Western Province bordering Afghanistan, have prompted President Pervez Musharraf to appeal for national unity. "The entire Pakistani nation needs to face such (extremist) elements and together we can defeat them", Musharraf was quoted saying. He was speaking in the wake of reports that sectarian violence had killed at least 22 persons over the past few days. A correlated and equally disquieting development is the steeply rising refugee movements out of Iraq.

A UN spokesman was quoted saying that some two million persons have already fled Iraq for countries such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt. They also place the internal displacements in Iraq at 1.5 to 2 million.

These and connected developments confirm the world's worst fears that a bloody civil war has begun in earnest in Iraq. "Fratricidal conflict" is the way some would choose to describe it because once harmoniously existing communities are today at war almost.

A related worry is for how long more neighbouring countries such as Syria and Jordan would keep their doors open to Iraqi refugees.

A continuous flow of refugees is certain to impose strains on the resources of such neighbouring states and prompt a closure of borders to the displaced.

The aggravating problem of refugees and displacements is bound to confirm the fear of the Arab world that the conflict in Iraq could dangerously impact their own societies, in terms of not only rising refugee influxes but also in terms of the sectarian divisions which these states in turn would themselves witness. In other words, the sectarian polarizations in Iraq would tend to replicate themselves in neighbouring states and add to the latters politico-religious anxieties.

The question then forces itself on the observer: how would some 25,000 more US troops in Iraq help in quelling these crises? Wouldn't they be seen as a heightened hostile presence by the Sunni community and its backers since the government in Iraq which is being propped-up by Washington is Shia-dominated? How, indeed, could an increased US troop presence help?

On the face of it, the chances of an increased US military presence stabilizing the political situation in Iraq seem remote, given the dangerous rift which has opened between the Sunni and Shia communities.

A key to defusing the compounded crises is a bold and imaginative national integration plan backed by substantial power sharing among the communities. This urgent measure cannot wait.

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