Massacre of minorities

Daily news reports of the trials and tribulations to which the Yazidis, a sub-group of Iraq’s ethnic Kurds, are subjected by the terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS), earlier known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has motivated community organizations and individuals in the US, UK and India to express their concern for this Kurdish minority. "The ISIS, widely seen as more hardline than Al Qaeda, storm into villages armed with machine guns and give Yazidis a simple choice: convert to Islam or die,” noted a Reuters report carried in The Asian Age of August 22, 2014 and forwarded to us by noted jurist Fali Nariman. Whilst the IS has released a video showing hundreds of Yazidis converting to Islam, it gives "no indication of the bloodshed that prompted tens of thousands of people to flee” to Mount Sinjar, desperately awaiting relief aid, added the report.
A warning issued by the United Nations (UN) Security Council that those responsible could face trial for crimes against humanity elicited a letter from office bearers of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) to the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon. Their letter dated August 11 signed by FEZANA president Katayun Kapadia and vice president Homi Gandhi who is also FEZANA’s main representative to the UN department of public information commended the UN for their "deep concern about the reports of attacks by the terrorist group IS on the vulnerable communities of Christians, Turkomen and Yazidis and calling on the international community ‘especially those with influence and resources’ to support the Government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq.”
Another letter of the same date by Kapadia was addressed to US President Barack Obama commending him "for the emergency measures you have initiated to protect the besieged Yazidi community of Iraq from the depredations of the extremist ISIS group.” Unfortunately the US initiated military-led humanitarian action and air strikes resulted in the beheading of American freelance photojournalist James Foley by the ISIS extremists who wanted to "avenge” US interference.
Both the letters introduce FEZANA as "the umbrella organization of 26 Zoroastrian associations that are representative of the community in the US and Canada,” and conclude with "We Zoroastrians, ourselves a tiny and fragile minority, strongly condemn it (violence directed at Yazidis) and fully support the UN initiative to alleviate the suffering of the Yazidis and stand ready to help as needed.”
The communication further declared that the Yazidis are "an often misunderstood and oppressed minority centered in that country’s Kurdistan region. They are estimated to number about 300,000 with virtually all of that population centered in northern Iraq, though with increasing out-migration under pressure of modernity and persecution, including to parts of western Europe. They practice a syncretic and exceedingly private faith that is passed down mainly through oral traditions. Experts who have studied the Yazidi faith have detected in it elements that Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians might find familiar, though it is distinctive in its own right and its adherents deserve to be accorded the same respect and dignity as those of any faith…Traditionally violence directed at Yazidis is motivated purely by intolerance of the way they worship god and thus is genocidal in nature.”
On behalf of The World Zoroastrian Organisation, London, chairman Shahpur Captain wrote to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Obama on August 8, beseeching them "to do whatever you deem necessary politically and militarily to contain and defeat the dark forces of ISIS which have wreaked havoc on the minority communities…” Reminded of the raw deal meted out to the Zoroastrian ancestors when Arab invaders defeated the Sassanian Zoroastrian empire, Captain wrote, "We would not like the same fate to befall fellow Yazidis…” To save the fleeing Yazidis "from lack of water, food, shelter and medicines…the full weight of the armed forces of European nations along with the Americans should be used to air drop supplies and create a corridor for the stranded Yazidis to travel to the safety of Kurdistan,” urged the letter.
According to Parsiana subscriber Rusi Sorabji, "Of the numerous postings on the Internet I haven’t read one Zarathushti so far voice concern about the Zarathushtis trapped in the area or for those who have been victims of this monstrous murdering organization… I am sure there are or were some if not many Zoroastrians living in that area. Two decades ago I knew of some working for the oil refineries in the area. Would anyone know how many Zoroastrians suffered the same fate as the others? We heard of the Christians, Jews, Yazidis, etc because of their numbers but what about the unknown few, our fellow Zoroastrians, those whom the Iraqis referred to as Majussi? For the ISIS jihadis Majussi are kafirs (infidels)…”
Fearing that "an entire religion is being wiped out from the face of this earth,” Gev Mahava of Edmonton referred to an article in the Metro News of August 10 which stated that Yazidis "have been surrounded from all sides over a mountain top in northern Iraq and are left to die of starvation, pay a religious fine, flee their homes, face death or a choice to convert to Islam.”
Blogger Dara Acidwalla forwarded an article from Zaman of Istanbul that stated, "The real reason to fear the IS is not its lust for power; it is the systematic, cold-blooded way in which its members are erasing the region’s social, cultural and demographic past.”
"The world must do something to save the Yazidis and the Christians and the Kurds from the ISIS or else the ISIS will be at our door tomorrow,” cautioned Dr Ardeshir Damania who had spent 10 years in Aleppo, Syria during which time he was introduced to a group of Yazidis and their belief in a peacock angel called Malek Taus, their pilgrim center in Lalash where they have a temple with a high priest called Sheik conducting prayers in front of a small fire, images of the rising sun on their iron gates and window grills, say prayers five times a day, sleep with their heads to the east, are wrongly labeled as devil worshipers just because they believe that the devil is a powerful force who should be placated and kept happy. Adi Davar of US too shared his reminiscences of interacting with Yazidis in the mid-1970s and added that their sanctum sanctorum reminded him of "our agiaries.”
In his article "The Yazidis of Kurdistan – are they really Zoroastrians?” written for the Deen Parast magazine Noshir Dadrawala cited several sources to explain that the origin of the word Yazidi is most probably "related to Avestan Yazata, deity, Persian Yazdan, God. It was given to them in contrast either to the Zoroastrians or to the Muhammadans. Although their priesthood is of the Muhammadan type and they recognize Muhammad and Abraham as prophets, they are far from being a Muhammadan sect. Nor are they Nestorians, although they have baptism and regard Christ as an angel in human form. In fact, they perpetuate with various admixtures a doctrine of the Magian type, combining Iranian and Assyrian elements. Their cult of fire is Iranian.” Two short books written in Arabic, Kitab al-jilwah (Book of Revelation) and Mashaf rash (Black Writing) form the sacred scriptures of the Yazidis along with an Arabic hymn in praise of Shaykh ’Adi, a 12th century Yazidi saint, to whose tomb they make an annual pilgrimage.
As commented Parsiana subscriber Porus Dadabhoy, "Whether the Yazidis are Zoroastrians or not is not the bigger issue…but my spirituality teaches me values and ethics…to defend others’ beliefs…even if they are different from ours.”