The Islamic State militant group has released another propaganda video that shows children, as young as 10, being brainwashed into believing that the rest of the world is their enemy. There’s nothing new about the video, its just another mind game. The group has a history of using children on the battlefield as well as for propaganda purposes. According to a UN-endorsed report, prepared by a London-based think tank and entitled “Children of Islamic State”, between August 1 last year and February 9 this year, a total of 254 events or statements featuring images of children in IS propaganda have been identified. (ISIS ‘army of orphans’ vows revenge in disturbing propaganda video)
The aforementioned video, however, gave me an uneasy feeling when I first read about it. I didn’t saw the video, I just read about it in the news. What if that weapon-wielding squad of children, or the “army of orphans” as the group calls it, are set free? Would the adults fight an army of children? Would the security forces dare to fire a single bullet? They would most likely resist in the first place but, what about the boys? They won’t mind blowing the brains out of their targets because that’s what they’re being trained to do; to kill. Most people would fear a weapon-wielding maniac, but a child with a weapon might just be the most dangerous thing on the planet.
We are accustomed to seeing adults kill each other in cold blood; we hear about it almost every day; news about target killings and suicide blasts. Wars being fought in the Middle East, war against terrorism and extremism, involved mostly adults. But this new war strategy, which involves using children as living weapons, is something that even the most modern warfare techniques won’t be able to solve. The militant outfits are implanting hatred in the innocent minds, a place that is unaccustomed to resisting new thoughts and ideas, especially those involving violence. Children are known to have a very sharp memory and, that is why they are able to digest a bulk of information. But what the extremists brainwash them into believing and thinking is no information; its an ideology based on pure hatred and rage.
Al Qaeda, Islamic State or Boko Haram; whatever they like being called, is just another ideology based on fake principles. And they are using these principles to justify themselves; to justify the heinous crimes they are committing against humanity; brainwashing children; raping women; they are basically spreading their false message. The New World needs to understand that it has created a monster in the form of terrorism. Extremism is just like a genetic disease that carries itself from one generation to another. We had the Taliban in the ‘80s, Al Qaeda in the ‘90s and now, we have the Islamic State. The irony is that the most advanced civilisation in modern human history is unable to sort out the mess. To a few influential out there, go to Mars, explore oceans but don’t make rest of the world suffer for your enjoyment.
The writer is a member of staff.