As Iraq plunges into civil war

As gruesome videos and pictures flood my inbox and whatsapp messenger showing merciless ISIS (Islamic Republic of Iraq and Greater Syria) militants waving decapitated heads from car windows, hoisting them on spears, and clips that you can’t even watch, my mind goes back to February 2011 when I met a happy group of Indian construction workers and businessmen in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, barely 150 km from Baghdad.

But before considering the plight of the nearly 10,000-strong Indian presence in Iraq, and my brief encounter with a few of them, a little about the ISIS. For those who are wondering why the armed Iraqi soldiers, much larger in numbers than the ISIS militia bands, are abandoning their posts and fleeing for their lives, it is important to know that the ISIS, an offshoot of the al-Qaeda, has now become a deadly combination of foreign insurgents aided by a well-established network of former Saddam Hussein loyalists.

After Saddam’s execution in 2006, and even before his regime fell in 2003, a large section of his Baath party leaders, commandos and intelligence officers simply melted away. This included members of his deadly Republican Guards, notorious for kidnapping at random, including young women who caught the fancy of Saddam’s two sons or their cronies, extortions, torture and execution. After lying low for several years and watching all the plum positions in the Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government being cornered by Shias, they have now resurfaced and are striking back. Saddam was a Sunni dictator who ruled over a Shia-majority Iraq.

It is the involvement of these Baathists, skilled and trained in ruthlessly and violently crushing any dissidence or opposition to the Saddam regime, that has allowed the ISIS to make such precise strikes and speedy gains in capturing Iraqi territory. This is what makes the ISIS band of terrorists, only a few thousand strong and who were till recently engaged in Syria, look invincible. Maliki now faces an ISIS infiltrated by a home-grown group that has an in-depth knowledge of Iraq — territory, governance, management ethos, et al .

After the Americans’ exit, to expect the ragtag Iraqi army to handle this onslaught is to expect miracles. But while the ISIS has found it easy to take over the northern Sunni belt, coming to the Shiite heartland of Iraq — the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala and even Baghdad — isn’t going to be a cakewalk.

Back in 2011 in Najaf, while the holiest Shiite mausoleum of Imam Ali, the second holiest leader for Shias after Prophet Mohammed, glittered with fancy chandeliers, its interior decorated with exquisite calligraphy and embedded with gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones, outside in the congested lanes there was only filth and squalor.

“If you want to see another face of Najaf, which is modern and fun, just drive about 10 km to the city’s outskirts and enjoy the freshest of fish in this restaurant,” a Bohra Muslim businessman who had come to Najaf “for an unbelievable business opportunity” as the country was being rebuilt, had told me.

We, a group of six, drove to the Ibne Jahim restaurant through smooth, six-lane roads and reached it via a huge flyover. A live fish was pulled out of the huge tank at its entrance, cleaned, roasted and served to us, with steaming hot khabus (rotis), fresh salad, juicy table olives and delicious fruit juice. The fish was soft and delicious and the restaurant, patronised by several Indian pilgrims, also served chilly flakes to suit the Indian palate.

But the Bohra businessman made our experience unforgettable by a precious tip. “Ask Keshav Reddy, who does part-time work there, to give you his special aam pickle from India.”

Keshav Reddy produced a delicious, spicy Andhra pickle which made a perfect accompaniment for the meal. He was one of over 100 Indians working for construction companies in Najaf for a salary of about $200. He and three others made an extra $100 by working part-time in this restaurant. They were very happy, being able to send about ₹10,000 home to their families. Perhaps the 39 Indians who have been abducted by the ISIS are ordinary workers like Reddy, who had gone to this ravaged zone to earn decent money. So too the nurses from Kerala who are now trapped in Iraq, and thousands of others whose papers are being forcibly retained by their employers.

As the US continues to play its political games with Iraq, it is not certain what kind of resistance Baghdad will be able to offer. The entire world, concerned at the splintering of Iraq into pieces, hopes that the ISIS will not get control over Baghdad. Stiff resistance will also come from the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, further south.

What does not augur well for Iraq is that as its official army has failed to protect cities such as Mosul and Tikrit, now under ISIS control, Shia militias are already regrouping to fight the Sunni ISIS infiltrated by the Baathists. On Saturday, thousands of supporters of the influential Shia cleric, Muqtada al Sadr, held a show of strength in Baghdad and elsewhere. The chilling message to the Maliki government was: If you can’t control the ISIS, we will step in. Sadr’s Mahdi Army, which had taken on the Americans during the occupation of Iraq, was officially disbanded in 2008. Sadr was earlier in alliance with Maliki but he ended it in February 2014. If his Mahdi Army regroups, it will attract Shia volunteers and as it takes on the ISIS, Iraq will plunge into a fullscale civil war.

It is an eerie reminder of what the Indian businessman had quoted from Hazrat Ali, who was assassinated in a mosque in nearby Kufa. “This land is full of riches. But unfortunately its soil will see continuing violence and bloodshed for centuries.”

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