He said it. Is Omar al-Bashir some kind of Islamophobe? No, he is looking forward to using the outcome of southern Sudan's independence referendum to ramp up Sharia law within the remainder of the country. Religious minorities in the north are rightfully afraid (along with all minorities who will be further marginalized under Bashir's intended campaign of cultural Arabization), given the subjugated status Islamic law prescribes for them (Qur'an 9:29). The entire population can look forward to more punishments like the flogging of a terrified woman by laughing police, which Bashir has emphatically defended.
When one looks at the contents of Sharia law and the Qur'anic verses and ahadith that underly it, it is easy to confirm that Bashir is not just a thug abusing the law; rather, it is Sharia that validates and guides his thuggery.
"Fears grow for minorities in north Sudan if south votes to secede," by Peter Moszynski for the Guardian, January 8:
As southern Sudanese prepare to vote for independence tomorrow, the jubilation at the prospective breakup of Sudan that is so widespread in the south is not shared by everyone in the north.
Particularly concerned are people in the two "contested areas" - South Kordofan and Blue Nile - who fought alongside the southerners in the civil war but have been left in the north by Sudan's comprehensive peace agreement (CPA).
With predominantly African populations of Nuba and Ingessana, who practise Christianity and traditional religions in addition to Islam, the people of the two areas are now being referred to as janubeen jadeed - the new southerners. This reflects their potential future status as marginalised Africans on the southern periphery of an integrated Arab-Islamist state. Precisely the same situation that led to the southerners calling for independence. [...]
Under the CPA, the two areas are supposed to have "popular consultation" on their future status, but this process - like the referendum for Abyei district - is completely off-track and people are extremely nervous about their future should the south vote to secede and President Omar al-Bashir carry out his threat to amend the constitution to consolidate north Sudan as an Arab-Islamic state with no concessions for racial or religious minorities.
Bashir recently declared: "If south Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution, and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity ... sharia and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language."
This statement - coupled with his defiant stance on Islamic law after international condemnation of a YouTube video of a woman being flogged by laughing policemen - has caused massive unease among north Sudan's minorities. Bashir said those calling for an investigation into the ill-treatment misunderstood Islam, because "sharia law has always stipulated that one must whip, cut, or kill".
Kamal Kambal, of Nuba Mountains Solidarity Abroad, says: "This is the reason why the southerners want to break away, and of course it is also going to be a disaster for those of us who are going to be forced to live with people with this mindset." Pointing out that the Nuba had been fighting alongside the south "to prevent the imposition of sharia law and Arabic culture", Kambal adds: "For us, this statement is a declaration of war." [...]
"Bashir clearly doesn't recognise the rights of anyone other than Arabs and Muslims," Kambal says. "He allowed cultural and religious freedom for minorities while he wanted to keep the southerners on board, but what rights will Christians and minority people like the Nuba have after the south breaks away?"
He believes that Britain and the CPA's other international guarantors are "currently only concerned about the south and the referendum, and have forgotten about the CPA's protocol on the two contested areas, which stipulates 'popular consultation' on the future status of South Kordofan and Blue Nile".
Ahmed Hussein Adam, spokesman for Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement, says: "This has revealed the true face of President Bashir and gives a clear indication of the type of state we're going to be left with after the separation of the south...."
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Someone send this to Columnist Leonard Pitts of the PC Miami Herald. He wrote a column several weeks ago in which he called the people of Oklahoma "crazy" for opposing shar'ia law.