US plan to ban Brotherhood will curb global terror

The US plan to ban the Muslim Brotherhood and designate the group as a foreign terrorist organisation is the right strategy to curb its financial activities and prevent the movement of its members. It is a stinging attack on the ideology of the group that has millions of followers in several Middle East countries. The finances of the organisation will also take a direct hit when the ban comes into force. Not many people realise that the flow of terror funds must be disrupted to cut the head of the monster that has spread this cult of violence and claimed the lives of innocents. The Sri Lanka terror attack is still fresh in our minds. With such a ban in place, the Brotherhood will come under increased global scrutiny. Launched in 1928 to fight British colonialism, the organisation officially eschewed violence in 1960. Some members went underground while others toyed with nascent political systems in countries.

The group became a force in mainstream politics through elections in Egypt in

2012 but its virulent ideology has inspired outfits like Al

Qaeda and Daesh who practise an extreme version that has made killing an industry.

Mercifully, the Egyptian experiment by the Brotherhood was cut short by the military and the people in

2013 when they realised that the group’s members had hijacked the reform movement. Now the Trump administration has shown agility in stepping up the campaign against global terror. Washington has heaped pressure on organisations like the Hezbollah and the Houthis. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were branded a terror group last month and the regime in Tehran is reeling under a cash crunch. The US has shown it is willing to put all options on the table to bring down an ideological organisation that wallows in hate against governments and people. The Brotherhood claims its activities are merely political in nature. The group has even gained power through the ballot in Tunisia. It has masked its activities well and is the ideological fountain of the ruling AKP in Turkey. In the Middle East, the organisation’s true colours are for all to see — power through extremism is its goal. The decision to ban the group will send the Brotherhood into political and ideological oblivion.

Politics for the Brotherhood is but a means to power through extremism. The decision to ban it will send the group into political and ideological oblivion.