Syria : Civil War

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia. Its official language is Arabic. Based on statistical analyses from 2006, the Syrian population mainly comprises of Sunnis including Sufis, about 74 percent, while the rest are Alawites, Twelvers and Ismailis. Basically, Syria is mostly Sunni Arab.

Officially, Syria is a republic. In reality, however, it is an authoritarian regime under the guise of a democratic system. Although citizens vote for the president and members of parliament, they have little choice and electoral results are often adjusted.

The President and his senior aides ultimately make most basic decisions in political and economic life with a very limited degree of public accountability.

Political opposition to the President is not tolerated, and allegiance to the President has become the criterion for loyalty to the state.

Muslims and Terroism

So, I was reading about the Kamra Air base attack in Pakistan, which happened in the early hours of Thursday, on the Times of India website. Well, as much as dreadful that was, what really disturbed me, were the comments that followed afterwards.

It is well known that there is no love lost between the people of India and Pakistan. But reading those comments, it dawned on me, how even the common man, has been sucked into the ever vicious cycle of the political blame game.

Every individual, be it Indian or Pakistani, all were blaming the other country for the attack. Indians were stating this as an irony, that people who have been providing refuge to terrorists finally got a taste of their own medicine. On the other hand, Pakistanis were positive that this attack was organized by the Indian terrorists. Just like the politicians of the world, we were taking sides and blaming the other party for the destruction.