Trump’s travel ban

THE decision to temporarily curb all manner of entry into the United States for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries has evoked a fierce backlash in many countries — though, ironically, not in the Muslim world. In the UK, a petition against a visit by President Donald Trump has garnered more than a million signatures, while American airports and airwaves are full of protesters against the move. A civil rights group has obtained a temporary stay on some parts of the executive order through which the travel curbs have been applied, while lawyers working pro bono are providing legal assistance to those stranded at various American airports. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has schooled the president on the obligations that fall upon his country under the Geneva Conventions. France and Canada have both criticised the move, and leading lawmakers in America are also in open opposition to it.

Conspicuous by their absence, and silence, through all this are the countries of the ummah; Iran has ordered tit-for-tat curbs, but it is not clear if responding in kind is a good way to counter the step taken by the new American president. Iraq has denounced the measures, for good reason considering it is an ally of the US in the fight against the militant Islamic State group. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt have both held telephonic conversations with Mr Trump since the order was signed, but there is no indication that they even discussed the travel curbs, let alone opposed them. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is mute on the matter, as are the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League. Nothing exemplifies the pathetic state of the Muslim world better than this silence. With their own policies, and shortsighted pursuit of power, Muslim rulers govern countries where dissent is prohibited, and where elections, if they are ever held, often yield controversial mandates, where minorities live in fear, and where hunger and poverty grip their populace. Foreign meddling and the play of imperialism have contributed to weakening the capacity of Muslim-majority states and Muslim rulers to provide true leadership at the international level. But the extremely shortsighted approach to statecraft and their preoccupation with narrow divisive politics have been instrumental in turning rulers of Muslim countries into mute spectators at this crucial juncture, leaving the fight to large sections of the Western public that are rising to challenge the unjust decrees of their own rulers.

Source: Dawn