|
Shia militia demolish âdebauchedâ Iraqi village
A Shia militia group loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr has wiped out a village in central Iraq which refused to adhere to its puritanical creed, killing some inhabitants and forcing the rest to flee.Hundreds of militiamen from the Mahdiâs Army group besieged the town of Kawlia, 10km south of the city of Diwaniya, with mortars and smashed walls with sledgehammers three weeks ago, reducing to rubble the entire village famed for its dancers and prostitutes since the 1920s. On Friday scavengers scoured the ruins, loading bricks from houses, a school and a mosque into pickup trucks to sell to local builders. Sayid Yahya Shubari, the 30-year-old local clerical commander of the Mahdiâs Army in Diwaniya, said his militia raided the village after receiving reports that pimps had kidnapped a 12-year-old girl. "It was a well of debauchery, drunkenness and mafia, and they were buying and selling girls," he said. He said Kawlia was flattened after the villagers shot an emissary he had sent to negotiate with them. Hassan Ali, a director at Diwaniyaâs civil defence department, said at least four people were killed and 15 wounded during six hours of night-time shelling. He said the attack was quelled after Spanish and Iraqi forces intervened. The townâs destruction has raised fears that the militia, which operates under the command of Mr Sadr, and is active in Baghdad and eight southern provinces, is not just operating above the law, but defining it. Mr Shubari says his Diwaniya office operates its own Sharia (Islamic law) courts, and uses its Sharia police to apply Islamic punishments. Militiamen say their Diwaniya brigade alone has between 800 and 1,000 men under arms. Diwaniya residents speak of a reign of terror, and say masked militiamen with Kalashnikovs are staging processions. Hamid Alwanâs back is still black with the marks of 80 lashes struck by a cleric for smelling of gin. Mr Shubari confirmed that his office was punishing people who drank alcohol with 80 lashes. The Spanish-led multinational force, assigned to provide security in the area, says it has made one raid on the Sharia court, after receiving orders from its military command, but is reluctant to intervene. "The problem is not the Mahdiâs Army, the problem is the terrorists. Itâs the terrorists who make dangers for the coalition," says Major Carlos Herradon. A local police chief says the Army is "a good force", whose Sharia courts are supreme. Journalists in the city have also been advised to respect "the sensitivity" of the news, and refrain from reporting. In recent weeks, coalition officials say they have demolished Mr Sadrâs Sharia court run from a basement in the nearby holy city of Najaf, and padlocked the main offices of Mr Sadrâs newspaper in Baghdad. The occupation authorities have also reissued orders to disband the Mahdiâs Army and other militias. But analysts fear the measures will serve to provoke Shia grassroots activists into open confrontation with the occupation authorities that the coalition has so far managed to avoid. "We prefer to die rather than see the Mahdiâs Army dissolved," says Mr Shubari. "Either martyrdom or victory, there is no other way." Ahead of a large Shia procession next week, black flags are draped from many Shia shrines in southern Iraq instructing followers to face the sword rather than surrender to an Islamic state. In Diwaniya, a town where women are all but absent on the streets, many younger residents and some policemen praised the Mahdiâs Army methods. "People would come from all over the south, and even Baghdad to dance with the gypsy girls," said Bassam al-Najafi, a Diwaniya restaurateur. "Women were leaving their husbands to work there. They are cleansing the town."
Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-04-02 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=29616 |