- News Code : 624283
- Source : Livemint
An organization in Delhi is gathering volunteers to help the wounded and protect holy Shia shrines in the war-torn nation.
While the Indian government is considering a plan to evacuate some 10,000 of its nationals from war-torn Iraq, thousands at home have registered as volunteers to travel to the insurgency-wracked country caught in a conflict between Sunni Islamist militants and the majority Shia population.
The volunteers are being organized by the Anjuman-e-Haideri, an organization that looks after the Dargah Shah-e-Mardan, a Shia mosque in South Delhi.
The Anjuman’s general secretary, Janab S. Bahadur Abbas Naqvi, said the organization had received 125,000 letters from volunteers willing to travel to Iraq to “help the wounded, protect the holy shrines of the Shia faith and even help the Indian government bring back the Indian nationals stuck in Iraq”.
“Most of these people—95%—are Shias, there are (other) denominations and faiths as well,” Naqvi said.
Of this 125,000, some 6,000-8,000 had sent in their passports and completed visa forms, said Naqvi, who is planning to visit Iraq later this week for a seven-day trip.
“What we plan to do is travel around Iraq, visit the places where we can send the volunteers and then return in a week or so. The delegation I am travelling with has six members and we are all professionals—doctors and lawyers,” Naqvi said.
The cities of Najaf and Karbala are two places in Iraq that are especially revered by Shias worldwide. Najaf is home to the shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, who Shias believe is the Caliph. Karbala houses the shrine of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet.
The ministry of external affairs in New Delhi, which has been working to bring back Indians from Iraq, did not comment on the Anjuman’s plans to facilitate the travel of volunteers. An official pointed out that there were two advisories issued by the ministry against travel to Iraq.
Naqvi’s plans are expected to add to the problems of the Narendra Modi government, which according to reports, is troubled by news of Indian Sunni Muslims travelling to Iraq to join the militants.
When asked if the organization was aware of the government advisories and the dangers of sending people across to Iraq, Naqvi said he knew about both.
“The government of India is not responsible for us, we are fully aware of the problems and dangers associated with this,” Naqvi said.
The Iraqi embassy in New Delhi was issuing visas and “is very happy that we are standing with them at this hour of their need,” Naqvi said. The volunteers would travel to Iraq through Iran, Yemen or Turkey, he said.
According to the “Iraq volunteer form” circulated to people across the country and seen by Mint, volunteers acknowledge that they are adults and fully capable of taking their own decisions.
“I am against terrorism which I believe is one of the most serious threat to humanity”, says the undertaking that each volunteer signs. “That the decision to travel to Iraq for defending the sanctity and honour of holy shrines in that country is solely my own. In fact I was contemplating of going there on my own and I am grateful to Anjuman E Haideri for facilitating this journey for myself and innumerable other individuals like me,” it says.
The volunteers must also undertake that they will not violate any Indian, international or Iraqi laws during their stay and “all activities will always be within the four corners of legal framework”. This comes against the backdrop of worries expressed by many countries that many of their Muslim nationals were involved in the fighting in Iraq.
The volunteers also state clearly that the decision to travel to Iraq is theirs and taken freely, “fully conscious of the imminent dangers and exigencies involved”.
Sunni militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched an offensive on 9 June, capturing Mosul, a city with a population of two million people.
On 30 June, the group announced the establishment of a “caliphate” straddling the two countries—stretching from Iraq’s Diyala province to Syria’s Aleppo—and named ISIL chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the “caliph” and “leader for Muslims everywhere”.
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