The Nassau Taliban

Dear Editor,

In a December 2018 Forbes Business article titled “The Deadliest Terrorist Groups in the World Today” by freelance journalist Dominic Dudley, it was claimed that of the 18,814 deaths caused by terrorist organizations in 2017, over half of them or 10,632 were caused by the Islamic State (or ISIS), the Taliban, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram.

According to Dudley, this information was compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace for its Global Terrorism Index 2018. All four of the groups have contributed to the instability of Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria — some of the most dangerous nations in the world, as per Dudley.

Four of these jihadist groups are responsible for 44 percent of terrorist deaths between 2007-2017. The Taliban, a Sunni Islamic military group formed in Pakistan in 1994 by Mohammed Omar and Abdul Ghandi Baradar, murdered 3,571 people in 2017, while ISIS killed 4,350 that same year. All of these groups are Islamic, waging a relentless war against the West and its perceived allies in the Middle East and Africa. Their members are rabid Muslims who sincerely believe that they are serving Allah by harming individuals who don’t subscribe to their Islamic theology.

Now, let us look at Nassau in the wake of the tragic shooting death of a 10-year-old boy in Bain Town — an area in the Over-the-Hill communities in the heart of Nassau that tourists would do well to avoid like the plague, as they’re the stomping ground of a small group of hardened murderers, violent armed robbers and rapists. I call this motley crew the Nassau Taliban.

Unfortunately for the law-abiding denizens of the Over-the-Hill communities, relocating out west or east New Providence is not an option, due to financial constraints. I saw property prices in a safe, wealthy area in New Providence ranging from $300,000 to $400,000 — clearly out of the financial reach of over 80 percent of Bahamians. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of the law-abiding denizens of the Over-the-Hill areas are financially trapped in a dangerous environment; and are at the mercy of the Nassau Taliban.

Unlike their terrorist counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, the Nassau Taliban isn’t the least bit religious by any stretch of the imagination. These dangerous individuals, who have succeeded in destabilizing the inner city of Nassau, are as irreligious as the nihilist Friedrich Nietzsche, who wholeheartedly embraced the tenets of epistemological failure, value destruction and cosmic purposelessness.

Unlike Bahamians in the bygone era of Nassau who routinely attended church and Sunday school, the Nassau Taliban was raised with a secular humanist world-view. Without any semblance of a biblical training, the Nassau Taliban was never taught to value human life and property. Bereft of human conscience, these cold-blooded murderers have no qualms shooting randomly into a crowd with toddlers, in the hope of settling a score with a gang rival.

Over the past decade, New Providence has been averaging 100 homicides annually. Even with the COVID-19 curfews and lockdowns, the Nassau Taliban still managed to murder 59 human beings in New Providence — 41 short of their annual murder count. Two and a half months into 2021 and The Bahamas has already recorded nearly 30 homicides, which obliterates the arguments of law enforcement officials that the COVID-19 lockdowns had nothing to do with the relatively low murder count of 77 in 2020. At our current pace, The Bahamas is once again on track to record 100-plus homicides.

According to Index Mundi, The Bahamas ranked 10th out of 167 jurisdictions in its 2017 murder per 100,000 ranking with 30.90.

Jamaica, Venezuela, Lesotho, St. Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador were the only countries ranked ahead of The Bahamas.

Interestingly, Colombia ranked 16th — six spots behind The Bahamas. I am convinced that Medellín Cartel elements in the 1970s and 1980s helped in contributing to the chaos on the streets of New Providence among violent gang groups, who are engaged in a perennial turf war over illicit drugs. These Taliban terrorists subscribe to American rapper 50 Cent’s “get rich or die tryin’” nihilistic philosophy. They have no concept of the afterlife and judgment.

New Providence is only seven by 21, with overcrowding being a contributing factor for its excessively high annual murder rates. Yet the government, whether it is the Free National Movement or the Progressive Liberal Party, has failed miserably in keeping law-abiding Nassauvians in the Over-the-Hill communities safe.

With the general election fast approaching, Bahamians should issue an ultimatum to the two giant political organizations: either the government start hanging convicted murderers or they’ll elect another party that will.

Unlike former United States President Donald Trump’s brokered peace deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan in early 2020, the Bahamian government must never capitulate to the Nassau Taliban.

— Kevin Evans

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