Police deserve praise for foiling Jihadist convention, not brickbats

By John katana
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The wounds inflicted on this nation from terror-related attacks are still fresh and raw. Granted, we have been able to demonstrate to the world that we are not prepared to walk down the path of defeat.

Time and again, we have come together as a people to turn our anger and injury into a firm resolution that we shall not accept to live in permanent fear and trepidation. The business of our nation continues with an admirable spirit of defiance. Yet the alarm bell for more vigilance and alertness continues to ring for both the law enforcement agencies and ordinary Kenyans.

There are no prizes for pointing out the fact that we are facing external threats instigated by a loose coalition of terror organisations with Al Shabaab featuring prominently. Their incredible extremism and fundamentalism is usually perpetrated in the name of religion by radicalised individuals who have been taught to hate and disapprove people who think and act differently.

Many knowledgeable clerics and Muslim scholars around the world have dismissed the use of violence in advancing the cause of religion. They have clearly asserted that such groups are not only a threat to the general welfare and security of citizens globally but also a big threat to Islam itself.

But there is no bigger threat to a nation’s wellbeing than the enemy from within. Nothing is as disturbing as accounts of Kenyan youth being recruited to join a foreign enemy to destroy what we have built together as a people. They are recruited and co-opted into the terror gangs through brain washing and, ultimately, radicalisation that puts them at the disposal of wicked masters.

When terror-related attacks take place, many accusing fingers are usually directed at our law enforcement agencies notwithstanding the number of unstated foiled attacks through their efforts. Any efficient police force embarks not on fire fighting strategies but on fire prevention in the first place.

Commendably, many attempted terror attacks have aborted on account of proactive police engagement. To help law enforcement agencies in policing our territory and protecting us, Kenyans have been urged to submit to various forms of security checks around critical installations including places of worship that are deemed vulnerable to attacks.

Kenyans have overwhelmingly responded positively to this requirement, a move that has obviously enhanced our national security.

On the flipside however, there is emerging a dangerous narrative to the effect that this kind of scrutiny encroaches on private domain of individuals and should not be extended, for instance, to places of worship.

A case in point is the recent confrontation between the police and youths who were holed up in two mosques in Mombasa: Masjid Musa and Masjid Sakina. The police were acting on intelligence that radicalisation lessons were taking place and immediately swung into action. To their dismay, the youths engaged the police in running gun battles for hours which in the end left several people dead and others injured including police officers.

Gun battles from children supposed to have been lured there with a meal of biriani? The answer was to be revealed from material and paraphernalia seized from the mosques in the ensuing gun battles. They contained teachings of jihad or the holy war usually used as one of the many steps in emboldening new recruits to face their perceived enemies.

These acts if condoned are a major threat not just to our national security but to the future of these children as well. The police were acting to save these youths from themselves.

While peace-loving Muslims have come out to loudly condemn this dangerous spectacle involving teenagers, some activists are attacking the police.

Vilification of our law enforcement agencies after such important and timely intervention is curious. It obviously doesn’t emanate from peace-loving Kenyans.