#hashtag BACK FIRED

Chapter Eight

One day, during the cold winter of '95, the revered palace of the ruling King of the small, but oil rich Middle Eastern city of Qua'ala lay in ruins. Among the rubble was a pretty little girl that lay completely covered in debris. She was six years old.

The palace was never rebuilt. It would take another six years before the ruins were cleared and in its place now stood the majestic mosque popularly referred to as The  Holy Mosque of King Hameed Al'Hassan II.

Looking at the magnificent architecture that took a substantial part of the city's skyline, one would find it hard to imagine it was where the massive palace of the supreme leader of Qua'ala once stood.

The palace, or rather its replica, was however relocated about fifty meters from its original location. The successor to the  throne, Sheik Al'Hussein Mubarak, with the official title of King Hameed Al'Hassan III, was a cousin to the former king. The people of the land of Qua, held Mubarak in the highest esteem. Some simply referred to him as Peacemaker, the true follower of the path of righteousness.

In recent times, the palace had played host to world leaders including the President of the United States, Russia, France China and India. A few African leaders including Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Cameroon had also paid homage to the revered king. Other than official visits, a few prominent Muslim leaders simply made it a point to stop over during their pilgrimage to the Holy Land of Mecca. Sheik Al'Hussein Mubarak had hitherto become the rallying point for peace in the Middle East.

One wondered at what had transpired to have brought such a horrendous visitation on the old palace? A deeply protected history pointed to the result of a feud between Hameed and his junior brother Mansur that culminated in a fierce and deadly confrontation.

King Hameed Al'Hassan II, who was the elder brother, had fallen in love with a woman of British descent and eventually married her as his second wife. This had ruffled a few feathers within the kingdom, particularly Mansur, the immediate junior brother, who strongly opposed of the marriage and introduction of a foreigner into the royal family. The people of Qua'ala had nothing particularly against the British, but the general feeling was that the royal family blood must not be contaminated by interracial marriage.

The bad blood developed to a head when, a few years later, Hameed's first wife died which automatically elevated the second wife to the status of Queen. Mansur could not bear it any longer. He quickly rallied support from a few royalists and launched the infamous campaign which he tagged 'Overthrow'. The social medial later gave it a hash tag #Overthrow and created a Twitter handle that was being adopted by numerous terrorist groups that sprang up in the East.

Mansur himself led a band of armed militia who rounded the King's Palace, carrying placards and loudly chanting the slogan, “Overthrow! Overthrow!

Overthrow!”

“Overthrow the infidel!”

“Give us back our palace!”

Mansur had organized a raid on the palace with the aim to oust Hameed and install himself as King. His plan backfired, in spite of having succeeded in killing King Hameed and all his household, and then razing down the palace.

Unfortunately for Mansur, his Hash Tag Overthrow campaign which was regarded by many as barbaric cruelty,  senior officials of Qua'ala viewed at as purely mutiny. With a sympathy protest, the overwhelming majority lined up behind the cousin, Mubarak and chased Mansur and all his partners in crime into exile, banished from the throne which he coveted and his homeland, never to return again forever.

Thus, Mansur was forced to flee into the desert and his subjects dispersed, with a few regrouping to form terrorist groups, while others joined existing antiestablishment, resistance and bandits groups.