Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Peace Crusaders: Chapter 10

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Sharifyar was the chief of the armed forces of Seher. He was one of the canniest persons on the planet Berth. He was also venomously revengeful person to the extent that he soon became famous as Kattarkhooni meaning staunch murderer in Seher’s local language. He was revengeful of all those who mocked his religious beliefs. Only recently he had killed twelve persons of the minority sect of Hennothenics religion because they had eve-teased a lady belonging to the country’s mainstream religion Eggothenics.

People of Seher belonged mainly to two religious sects. The people who believed that egg came first belonged to Eggothenics. Others who believed hen came first followed the religion called Hennothenics. Hennothenics were in minority in Seher. Almost all the people living in most of countries in the eastern hemisphere of planet Berth had their faith in Hennothenics. Large population of the countries situated in the central part of Berth followed Eggothenics as their religion. The western hemisphere was dominated by a single religion Deshiyog.

Sharifyar was never a person he later became. He was true to his name Sharifyar, meaning a cultured person in Seher’s local language. The events that were responsible for his transformation to his nickname Kattarkhooni still haunted him. He lived those nightmarish experiences every moment and those experiences killed his pride hundred times a day.

The harrowing personality of the jailor was still quite vivid in Sharifyar’s mind. The jailor opened the sliding iron gate of his cell, spat on him, and abused, “You scum, dirty Eggothenic bastard! We are going to make your life miserable in these seven days of imprisonment here. You will forget to pray your Eggothenic god in your dishonorable language of your country. Now eat this shit before we torture you again.” He pushed forward a plate full with the food that exuded foul smell. 

He further asked, “Do you accept the charges? You better plead guilty in the court.” 

Sharifyar was in severe pain because of his bruised face and lips. The police had tortured him before he was brought to the jail. He somehow collected himself and spoke, “I maintain I’m innocent.”

The jailor kicked him, spat in his face once again, and went away. Sharifyar felt extremely humiliated and angry.

Within a week he was in the court facing the trial.

The judge asked, “Do you plead guilty of your racist behavior?”

“I’m innocent. I’m not racist. In fact it’s the other wayround. Three of my classmates are racists. They are citizens of Bigland. They are sons and daughters of some very influential politicians. They do not like my being in this country and they hate my religion, my color, and my language. They insist that I return to my country Seher. They keep harassing me,” said Sharifyar.

“But the eye-witnesses have testified on oath that you shouted at them and hurled abuses. You made derogatory remarks on their Hennothenics religion. You insulted them by saying that they belonged to an inferior race and color. You mocked at their mother tongue which is also the official language of our country,” the judge mentioned. “I also have the audio-recordings. You do not have any eyewitness and you have chosen not be represented by any lawyer. Even the diplomats of your country from your embassy here have not come in your support though an intimation of your criminal involvement was sent to them.”

“I have not appointed a lawyer as I cannot afford his fee. The lawyer given to me by the court insisted that I should plead guilty. I chose not to have that sort of lawyer. Yes, I admit I don’t have any eye-witness.”

Sharifyar had felt furious about the treatment that his embassy and his country had meted out to him. Despite his repeated pleas he did not get any favorable response from the diplomats of the embassy as well as from the secretariat of king Maramar in his country Seher. They left him in a lurch. He felt completely helpless.

He continued with his statement to the judge. He said, “I also do not have any support from the officials of my country. They have not responded to my petitions. I admit it. But I repeat I’m innocent.”

“I am afraid gentleman, I cannot condone your crime. You have committed a serious offence. But being a student on scholarship in our university we will deal with you leniently. You will be immediately deported from our country and will never be allowed back here.” The judge gave his ruling. “And by the way you speak our language quite poorly. Your pronunciations are all wrong though grammatically passable. I wonder how you got scholarship from our university.” The judge dismissed the court.

The police escorted Sharifyar to the college premises where his professors as well as the director of the college were already waiting for him. They handed over the official letter pronouncing his rustication from the institute. They also gave him the copy of the judgment ordering his deportation. The director hurled out a homily at him as his parting gift, “Mister, never ever dare to comment on others’ religion, race, color, and language. Better luck in your home country.”

When he came home in his country he remembered every word of what his director had said. He swore on the holy book of his Eggothenics religion, “I was a simple man oblivious of the reality that the organized religions could be misused by some to create and promote hatred. Though I was innocent the people of other religion and race wronged me. Now I’m a different person. I will now punish and finish everyone who would speak ill of my religion, my color, my race, and my language. To empower me to do so I will try to grab a top official position in country’s armed forces or in police soon enough.”

Obviously governmental officials of Bigland who had humiliated him became his number one enemy. He also decided on punishing every citizen of Bigland and every other country that would denigrate his religion or race.

One more person on the planet Berth became a fundamentalist and an extremist.

He strived to become chief of the armed forces of Seher to fulfill his objectives. A day came when king Maramar appointed him the chief of his country’s armed forces. Soon it became clear to Sharifyar that he could not remain loyal to king Maramar. He once mentioned to one of his army officers who was also his confidant, “The king though an Eggothenic behaves more like a Hennothenic. I don’t approve such a behavior at a king’s level. Worse, he is hand-in-glove with Bigland and its president Gushnell. They are our enemy number one. He has sold out our oil wells to Gushnell for a song and making our people poor and poorer.”

Sharifyar wanted to share one more reason why he despised Maramar. But he did not speak it out, he just talked to himelf, “I have one more score to settle with Maramar. When I was being tried in the court of Bigland on the charges of racism against me, I was left alone to fend for myself. No one from Maramar’s office came to my rescue. Whether Maramar knew about it or not, he is definitely responsible for creating such a rotten culture of corruption and apathy in Seher. I must punish him for that too.”

“But sir, you are developing a close tie with Gushnell yourself. You two seem to be on pretty friendly terms,” Sharifyar’s confidant said.

Humiliation suffered by Sharifyar in Bigland haunted him all the twenty-four hours of everyday. “I need to destroy that country and its people,” he used to meditate. With these kinds of thoughts hovering over his mind, he replied to his confidant, “Yes you are right. I am developing camaraderie with Gushnell. But it’s mainly to use him and his army for our own benefit. I will be using Bigland’s army to first unseat king Maramar, become country’s supremo and then dictate terms with Gushnell. From my recent intel updates I have come to know about a serious discord between Gushnell and Maramar.”

“You mean to say the intimate personal friendship between the two has ended.”

“A definite yes,” Sharifyar confirmed. “Bigland’s army will backup the coup we are about to stage against the king. You know about our preparedness for the coup. But we need the reinforcement of Bigland for the purpose.”

“But then Gushnell and his army will be seen as the winners and they would rule us.”

“Yes they would defeat our country in the war with our backing. But they will let us run its messy affairs; they are not interested in the messy day-to-day administration. They are simply interested in our oil and also the huge money they will make under the garb of reconstruction of the country gone out of shape. So they would like to install a government that will be subservient to them. The arrangement between Gushnell and me is reciprocatory. If he makes me the supremo I will allow him to do whatever he wants to do with our country and its resources.”

“Sorry to say this sir. But then he has bought you too. You seem to have forgotten all the economic atrocities of Bigland on us. In fact it seems you are going to continue with our king’s methods.” 

“No. As soon as I become the supremo I will start my real program of destroying Bigland. I will act expeditiously to garner the support of all the Eggothenic countries to terrorize Bigland, Unon, and the other Hennothenic countries.”

He looked in the eyes of his confidant for an effect. He was feeling charged up. His subordinate army officer nodded indicating his appreciation as if inviting him to continue.

So he continued, “Our acts of terror would humiliate them to the core. But our acts of terror will no more be termed as the act of terrorism since I will be committing them as the legitimate head of a country. Additionally I will impose economic sanctions on them; earlier they used to impose sanctions on us. Now it’s our turn. We are very rich in oil and other natural resources. Their resources have all dried up because of their foolish economic policies. They believe that economy grows when people consume. How stupid? So now they just can’t do without us. They will ultimately come begging to us. When they kneel down and beg for mercy, I will kick their asses and spit in their faces.”

Then he silently suggested to himself, “My revenge would end then.” He laughed out loud with perceived contentment. He was almost hysterical. His confidant joined him in laughter without knowing the boss’s real reason for being hysterical. Sharifyar ordered his confidant to leave him alone. He ordered, “I wish to rest for a while. Please carry on with your task of consolidating the support to topple the king’s regime.”

Sharifyar then savored a dream he often dreamt but with open eyes:

The jailor of the jail of Bigland where he was put behind the bars, the judge of the court of Bigland where he was put on trial, and the director of the institute of Bigland where he studied for a short period were brought to Seher. They were under his custody in a jail behind the bars. The TV channels of the entire world were invited to telecast live the episode that was about to take place. In that episode Sharifyar would open the sliding iron gate of the jail where the jailor, the judge, and the director were kept in captivity.

He would then look into their eyes, slap them hard, spit on their faces, and rattle out, “You scum, dirty Hennothenic bastards! You three will be immediately deported not only from my country but from our planet Berth altogether and will never be allowed back here. So get ready to be beheaded. The entire world will watch this grandeur live. Mister, never ever dare to mess up with me and my religion, race, color, and language. And by the way you three speak my mother tongue extremely poorly, shame on you. Your pronunciations are all cockeyed and your grammar is all screwed up. I wonder if you are worthy to be on this planet any more.”

Sharifyar relished one more dream:

In this dream he used to fantasize the presidents and prime ministers of Unon, Bigland, Chinhut, and such advanced countries and their cronies- the CEOs of gigantic sized corporations and their financial advisors etc- working on the shop floors of the factories of Seher. They were engaged in carrying out some semiskilled or unskilled work in the factories.

They were being paid their wages as per the terms and conditions of the outsourcing contracts laid out by these countries. So they were getting wages that were some thirty times less than the workers of the advanced countries and at least twenty thousand times less than their own salaries back home. 

In his dream he used to fantasize that all of them were literally starving to death, as they could not buy enough food in their meager wages. In the final scene he used to fantasize them dying of starvation. And before they were about to die he used to lecture to them, “Don’t ever financially mess up with our people who work as hard as you and your people do back home. Our people soon would get ready for a renaissance and in doing so would not spare those who had exploited them all these donkey’s years.”
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