VIENNA,
February 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – Hundreds of Austrian Muslims
took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday, February 26, to back the
unity of the Iraqi people and condemn attacks on mosques in Iraq and
the ensuing sectarian violence.
"We
are sending a message of solidarity to our people in Iraq," Fouad
Al-Khafaf, the head of the Islamic Dawa Party, told IslamOnline.net.
"It
is time to remind the world that all sects of the Iraqi people have
coexisted peacefully for decades and will continue to do the
same," added the Muslim activist, himself an Iraq.
He
urged the Iraqi people to nip in the bud all attempts to sow the seeds
of sectarian strive in their country.
A
bomb killed five people at a bus station in the mainly Shiite town of
Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Sunday, February 26, breaking a relative
calm.
Four
days of tit-for-tat reprisals have left more than 200 dead and mosques
damaged, despite a daytime curfew on Baghdad that went into its third
day on Sunday.
The
Iraqi defense minister has warned of a civil war that "will never
end."
A
surge of sectarian blood-letting has been triggered by the bombing on
Wednesday, February 22, of one of the holiest Shiite shrines in
Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Condemned
The
hundreds of Austrian Muslims, estimated at nearly half a million or 6
percent of the country’s eight-million population, were united in
denouncing attacks on mosques and religious shrines.
"Today's
rally is a call to protect all sanctuaries," said al-Khafaf.
Mazen
bin Yamin, an Iraqi living in Austria, agreed.
"As
Muslims we can never condone an attack on a church of a synagogue, let
alone assaulting a mosque," he told IOL marching in the rally.
"Sanctuaries
in all religions are a red line that must not be crossed."
Iraqi
Sunnis have complained that many of their mosques were attacked and
sometimes burned down in reprisal attacks by angry Shiites.
This
prompted prominent Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr to ordered protection
for Sunni mosques in predominantly Shiites areas.
Yamin
urged Muslim scholars in Iraqi to stand united against such sectarian
violence.
A
group of Iraqi Shiite and Sunni scholars huddled together on Saturday,
February 25, to defuse raging sectarian tensions.
Painstaking
efforts are underway to establish a body of Sunni and Shiite scholars
speaking, in one voice, on behalf of the Sunni and Shiite communities.
Scheme
Many
believed the latest sectarian violence was part of a scheme that only
plays into the hands of the occupiers.
"The
bombing of the Shiite shrines and the Sunnis mosques are only a part
of a well-planned plot to undermine the unity of the Iraqi
people," one Iraqi demonstrator told IOL, requesting anonymity.
"They
only want to slice the country in favor of the occupiers."
He
accused the American forces of trying to spark off a sectarian
sedition and a civil war.
"They
continue to pursue such a scheme," said the Iraqi, expecting the
plot to fail.
The
Iraqi community in Austria signaled a similar position.
In
a statement, it said the attacks attempted to drive a wedge among
Iraqis "to serve the interest of the occupation."
"The
occupation forces are responsible for what is happening in Iraq."
The
Islamic Religious Authority, the representative body of the Muslim
minority in Austria, had accused "certain parties" of
seeking to destabilize Iraq and pit Iraqis against one another
"for personal gains."
Many
Iraqis, including Construction Minister Jassem Mohamad Jaafar, believe
the bombing was the work of specialists.
"According
to initial reports, the bombing was technically well conceived and
could only have been carried out by specialists," he told Iraqia
state television.
