Al-Madinah Ever since the so-called Iranian Revolution unseated Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979 and brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power in Tehran, the Iranian regime has been following a spiteful racist policy with the intention of intensifying the Sunni-Shiite rift in a number of countries in the region. It used this policy as a trump-card to realize its ambitions and expand its influence in the region. It has been trying to project itself as the protector of Shiism and Shiites all over the world to win their allegiance to their school thought, not to the nation. The biggest evidence for this is what Iran did after the execution of the firebrand Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr along with a number of Sunni terrorists. It denounced the decision to execute the Shiite cleric and did not prevent hooligans from setting fire to Saudi Embassy in Tehran. On the other hand, Iran named a street after Nimr Al-Nimr to become another of the terrorists whose names have decorated the country's roads and streets. As I mentioned earlier, Iran uses the Shiite card only for political purposes. In reality it does not care for the Shiites as it claims. If its claim was true it should have taken care of its citizens, the majority of them Shiites, who suffer from poverty and oppression. The regime has been suppressing its population whenever they raised their voice against it. While the Iranian mullahs or religious leaders were leading the anti-Saudi tirade, we have heard voices of intellectuals from inside the Kingdom, especially after the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran and cutting of diplomatic relations with Tehran, urging the Shiites to denounce terrorism in order to prove their patriotism as no bargain is allowed on a person's love for his nation. These intellectuals should have emphasized the importance of national unity. By urging the Shiites to condemn terrorism, they are indirectly asking our Shiite brothers not to condemn terrorist acts committed by Shiites. Those who keep mum on terrorist acts committed by Shiites express their support to their perpetrators indirectly although most Shiites denounce such terrorist acts. These intellectuals, when a terrorist act is committed by Shiites, wait for all the Shiites to denounce them, otherwise they would ignore them out of suspicion. This kind of attitude would not help national unity. A terrorist act is a terrorist act, irrespective of who committed it, whether it is Sunni or Shiite. People should not approach terrorism on sectarian lines. Such an approach would not promote national unity, which should stand supreme above all sectarian and racial considerations.
