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Introduction
Since time immemorial, terrorist acts have included assassination,
seizing hostages and a variety of atrocities that only fiendish
minds could devise. Terrorists give innumerable, explanation for
their violence. They declare that society is sick and cannot be
cured by half measures of reform and that, as the state itself
uses the violence, it can overcome only by violence. They also
assert that the righteousness of their cause justifies any action
they may take-contemporary terrorism involves a group of
individuals who are from affluent industrialized society. They
seek to destroy this society in the name of some revolutionary
concept. Examples of such groups would include The Italian Red
Brigade, German Border, The Indian Naxalite Movement, etc. another
group of terrorists comprises those espousing more traditional
political causes- The Unification of Ireland. Acts of
international terrorism are committed to terrorize nations and
governments into compliance. International terrorism is
distinguished by three characteristics. First, it embodies a
criminal act. Second, it is a politically motivated and their
violence is directed against innocent people.
Finally, international terrorism transcends national boundaries
through the choice of a foreign target, the commission of the act
in a foreign country and an effort to influence the policies of a
foreign government. One of the factors which considered as a cause
of terrorism is that most nations are undergoing a process of
drastic socio-economic change what does the future hold for
terrorism International terrorism has been rising in frequency at
a dramatic rate. Indications are that it is almost certain to in
as it seems to pay-political blackmail bets results and
punishments for convict terrorists are light while free publicity
is acquired on a massive scale. Terrorism has entered the
mainstream of world politics and could become a naira form of
warfare. With the availability of relatively small arid
inexpensive means destruction, a handful, of men could have an
enormous impact upon states societies. It is not realistic to
envision some countries preferring to arm and terrorists to pursue
their foreign policy objectives rather than through direct as
visible involvement in a conflict with another state. The world as
a whole is a wary of a nuclear holocaust and restraining, ration
voices make the superpowers aware of the self-destructive nature
of such act but there is a real danger that the world might
explode with a million mutinies which will destroy mankind just as
surely.
Roots
Of The Mayhem:
The word terrorism never sounded as grievous as it seems to be. At
times brains gobble pertaining to the origin of the bloody form of
holocaust, which is terrorism. But have we ever tried to analyze
within our so-called intelligent brains that where from this word
terrorism creeped into our society Is
this a result of day today honing of some mischievous brains or it
popped up suddenly on one fine day out of no where. Very much obvious the later reason can
be completely gain said. If we recapitulate the past we can surely
get our answers that how this form of mayhem actually evolved. In
the aftermath of September 11, 2001, a consensus quickly emerged
that poverty and lack of education were major causes of terrorist
acts and support for terrorism. Subscribing to that theory are
politicians, journalists, and many scholars, as well as officials
responsible for administering aid to poor countries.
The consensus is bipartisan.
"We fight against poverty," George W. Bush said in a speech in
Monterrey, Mexico. Elie Wiesel claimed, "Education is the way to
eliminate terrorism." And the Nobel laureate Kim Dae Jung
asserted, "At the bottom of terrorism is poverty."
With such a strong and broad
coalition in agreement, we asked, what evidence links poverty and
poor education to terrorism? Study indicates support for, and
participation in, terrorism at both individual and national
levels. Although the data at the national level are weaker, lead
us to conclude that any connection between poverty, education, and
terrorism is, at best, indirect, complicated, and probably quite
weak. Defining terrorism is difficult. Some definitions, emphasize
the "subnational," "clandestine" character of "politically
motivated violence," while others include the state as a
perpetrator. We have focused on substate terrorism because we
believe that the roots of state-sponsored terrorism are
substantially different. What's common to most definitions is the
inclusion of terrorists' goal of inducing fear in a target
audience that transcends the physical harm caused to immediate
victims, the ultimate purpose being persuasion. A large body of
evidence exists on hate crimes, a close cousin to terrorism. These
are crimes against members of a religious, racial, or ethnic group
selected solely because they are part of that group. Hate crimes
are usually less orchestrated than terrorist acts. The effect of
both terrorism and hate crimes is to wreak terror in a greater
number of people than those directly affected by the violence.
The economic theory about
participation in terrorism considers the supply side first -- that
is, why do people commit terrorist acts. As is conventional in
economics, involvement in terrorism is viewed as a rational
decision that depends on the benefits, costs, and risks involved
compared with those of other activities. Public opinion polls can
provide information on which segments of the population support
terrorist or militant activities.
News reports often create the
impression that Islam is a source of terrorism. Note, though, that
suicide attacks are a relatively new, alien element in the history
of mainstream Islam. But suicide attacks and other forms of
terrorism have been carried out by people belonging to other
established religions, too, and by individuals professing no
religious faith at all.
The root cause of man made
disaster and terror is very complex and don't mean to trivialize
the importance of what has recently occurred or the need for
developing creative solutions to the global problem of terrorism.
Somewhere along the line, we can chance a guess to say that, a
solution was possible before the need for radical terrorism and
ultimately war.
As we move ever closer to war,
we should keep in mind that terror comes from many sources and is
not a central Asian problem. It has occurred in Canada, the United
Kingdom, Mexico and the United States. Terrorism in these
countries has been both international and domestic in nature. As I
have said many times, it is very dangerous to apply generalities
to specifics and this case is no different.
This should not be a war on
Muslim terrorists; it should be a war on global terrorism, as the
potential problem exists in all nations of the world. If the fight
is to be credible, it is incumbent upon all nations of any
coalition to begin the fight at home by eliminating the structures
that allow terrorist cells to operate and fund international and
domestic terror.
Ontology
Terrorism has become the systematic weapon of a war that knows no
borders or seldom has a face.
Jacques Chirac, speech, Sep. 24, 1986
People experiencing
circumstances of relative deprivation will protect their
self-esteem and identity by attributing these circumstances to
powerful enemies that unfairly impose such situation on them. They
tend to develop an autistic and biased system for processing of
information that allow people to see themselves as victims, and
therefore to justify an attack on the attributed source of their
deprivation and humiliation. This form of self-empowerment helps
to protect their individual and group's identity and to exercise
social pressure towards group unity. It can be argued that
Hitler's rise to power was a direct result of the humiliations and
deprivations suffered by Germans during the 1920's. Nazi
propaganda manipulated German's sense of grievance by stressing
and glorifying. The conditions of relative deprivation, collective
humiliation and perceived injuries created an identity crisis in
Germany that was fertile soil for fascism to flourish. The
sufferings of Germany during were the ultimate source of the
deprivations and humiliations artfully manipulated by Hitler. The
current circumstances of Muslims around the world have
similarities with pre-Nazi Germany, including a situation of
relative deprivation and deep feelings of vulnerability. This
beaten and vulnerable identity is not an attractive one. It is
rejected, initially by an extremist minority that resorts to
powerful images of a glorified past and a supposedly intrinsic
superiority over their enemies to create an attractive alternative
identity. Needless to say, this alternative identity is very
difficult to resist in particular for young members of society.
Extremists that find self-serving explanations for the
deprivations, humiliations and sense of vulnerability in real or
imaginary but always powerful enemies that unjustly have imposed
these circumstances upon them manipulate the new identity. The
sense of humiliation is transformed into anger and a sense of
historical injustice, which creates longing for the reconstruction
of a glorious past.
In the case of Muslims, a
longing for a return to the past when the present situation seems
hopeless is understandable. Muslims have seen their participation
reduced to a secondary, subordinate role as a result of the
partition of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI. Rampant levels
of poverty and oppression in many Muslim countries add to the
sense of humiliation and grievance to create an identity crisis
that is exploited by religious and political extremists to gain
influence. Although deeply unrepresentative of Islam's long
history of tolerance and despite the fact that a war against
civilians is a gross violation of Islamic law, the force of the
reasoning contained in this declaration comes from the fact that
it provides a more appealing explanation to the deprivations and
humiliations of Muslims around the world. It translated the
responsibility to an evil and powerful enemy that purposefully
victimizes Muslims. This account, although biased and
self-serving, provides a more appealing explanation that is highly
appealing. As mentioned before, identity is a powerful ontological
force that guides our perception and behavior. It would be naive
to think that the current crisis is limited to any terrorist
group. Thus is the reason why terrorists have become a symbol of
defiance. The terrorist groups manipulate this to impose a
self-serving, extremist, but highly appealing identity.
But there have been incidents
where the so-called act of terrorism was considered desirable.
For this reason the act is seen as a frontal 'clash of
civilizations', or in other words a clash of threatened needs.
Impact Of Terrorism:- India and World
Terrorism, like viruses, is
everywhere. There is a global perfusion of terrorism, which
accompanies any system of domination as though it were its shadow,
ready to activate itself anywhere, like a double agent.
Jean Baudrillard, The Spirit
of Terrorism
Though there is nothing new about terrorism and religious
fundamentalism in the history of humanity, the present day
scenario in the world at large, and in the Indian subcontinent in
particular are undoubtedly very alarming.
In recent times, religious
fundamentalism and terrorist activities have become extremely well
organized with local, national and international network involving
a huge number of personnel at all levels and an enormous amount of
resources.
The September 11 senseless
attack on mass civilian targets and the resulting heavy loss to
human life and property has catapulted terrorism as the foremost
threat to national and global security. These incidents lulled us
into thinking that this evil is endemic to only a few regions of
the world, and can be curtailed either by strong police or
military action, or by bringing the perpetrators of such crimes
and their masterminds to justice. The 9/11 was indeed a turning
point in this regard. It was an event that deeply shook the
equilibrium of the social fabric of the entire world. Human
relationship became profoundly distorted. Warmongers are finding
pretexts of all kinds, not the least religious Fundamentalism and
terrorism, to justify their blatantly unjustifiable position.
Consequently, over the
centuries India has developed a culture of harmony that
acknowledges unity and promotes diversity in religious pursuits
and cultural expressions. It is because of this noble heritage
that India has become the homeland of many religions guaranteeing
for centuries their peaceful coexistence here. But every coin has
two sides, so is this. Since its independence in 1947, India has
been facing the problem of insurgency and terrorism in different
parts of the country. The insurgency has been taken to mean an
armed violent movement, directed mainly against security forces
and other government targets, to seek territorial control;
terrorism has been taken to mean an armed violent movement
directed against government as well as non-government targets,
involving pre-meditated attacks with arms, ammunition and
explosives against civilians, and resorting to intimidation
tactics such as hostage-taking and hijacking, but not seeking
territorial control. India has faced exclusively terrorist
movements in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, bordering Pakistan, and
part insurgent-part terrorist movements in the northeast,
bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh; in Bihar, bordering Nepal; and
in certain interior states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
etc defying international borders. Terrorism has become the
systematic weapon of a war that knows no borders or seldom has a
face.
Jacques
Chirac, speech, Sep.
24, 1986
India has also faced terrorism of an ephemeral nature, which
sprang suddenly due religious anger against either the government
or the majority Hindu community or both and petered out
subsequently. So it can be derived to some extent that it would be
wrong to target only Muslim because there have been evidences of
even Hindus and Christians involving in such heinous act.
In incidents like Madrid
Commuter Train Bombing, Oklahoma City Bombing, Lockerbie Disaster:
The Crash of Pan Am Flight 103, Subway Attack in Japan rates of
distress and posttraumatic symptoms have been found to be high in
individuals studied following terrorist events.
We are not in a position to
affirm that the steps we propose are adequate to root out
terrorism. We still argue that these are important steps, worth
taking. We therefore suggest that the peace initiatives we pursue
should also not be like others in the past but bold, long term,
and universal.
The terrible thing about
terrorism is that ultimately it destroys those who practice it.
Slowly but surely, as they try to extinguish life in others, the
light within them dies.
--Terry Waite, British
religious adviser, hostage in Lebanon
Counter -Terrorism:
Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a
hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is
the one that gets past you.
Paul
Wilkinson, London
Daily Telegraph, Sep. 1, 1992
Time and again nations wake up to the need of combating
international terrorism only after they have suffered devastating
attacks. Initially people underestimated the problem of terrorism
and considered it as the tip of iceberg but forgot the fact that
the base of the iceberg below the sea level is much vast than it
seems to be. The realization of a concerted global response to
international terrorism comes when big powers are subjected to
terrorist attacks like 9/11 attack. There were international
treaties, covenants, conventions etc. against international
terrorism, but rarely are they resorted to. Western powers,
because of joint defense and related matters, may be having
arrangements in sharing of intelligence etc. on international
terrorism, but there has been no concerted global action to stamp
out or root out terrorism. Third
World terrorism has been of no big concern for the western powers
as long as their interests were not adversely affected. Terrorism
in most parts of the world, particularly in the Third World, has
come to mean One man's
terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Perhaps, the best
example of this is the South Asian region where seven nations
adopted what is known as the SAARC Convention on Terrorism many
years ago, but no concerted action has taken place despite six
countries being plagued by it. This is vividly illustrated in the
Kashmir issue where those whom Pakistanis call freedom fighters
are India's terrorists and India?s defense forces are Pakistan's
state terrorists.
The United Kingdom's adoption of the Prevention
of Terrorism Act and the United States' PATRIOT Act strengthened
the notion that other countries had acknowledged the need to move
beyond traditional domestic criminal procedure in order to
properly battle terrorism. Thus, the Indian Government had enacted
the Prevention of Terrorism Act [hereinafter POTA-2002] which
served as an anti terrorist legislation which was vast enough to
cover all kinds of acts included in terrorism like Punishment for,
and measures for dealing with terrorist activities, Terrorist
Organizations, Interception of communication in certain cases.
Terrorism has been on the agenda of the United Nations for
decades. Thirteen international conventions have been elaborated
terrorism like Convention Against the Taking of Hostages
,Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism
,Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, Convention
for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil
Aviation and on regional level there have anti-terrorism laws like
Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (League of Arab
States, 1998), Convention of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference on Combating International Terrorism (1999), European
Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, OAS Convention to
Prevent and Punish Acts of Terrorism Taking the Form of Crimes
against Persons and Related Extortion that are of International
Significance, SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of
Terrorism within the framework of the United Nations system
relating to specific terrorist activities.
The Security Council
has also been active in countering terrorism by establishing
several subsidiary bodies. At the same time a number of programmes,
offices and agencies of the United Nations system have been
engaged in specific operational actions against terrorism. To
consolidate and enhance these activities Member States opened a
new phase in their counter-terrorism efforts by agreeing on a
global strategy to counter terrorism. The strategy, adopted on 8
September 2006 and formally launched on 19 September 2006 marks
the first time that countries around the world agree to a common
strategic approach to fight terrorism. And there also have been
other laws as well to suppress.
A Modern Scourge
Terrorism has become a part of modern life. Hijackings, bombings,
and assassinations on different continents of the world may seem
like isolated attacks, but they reflect an easy reliance on
violence as a way to promote social, political, and religious
change. They are elements of a pervasive end justifies the means
philosophy being followed to its most perverse conclusions.
International terrorism has become the scourge of all democratic
governments. These democratic governments are accustomed to
dealing within a legal structure; often find it difficult to deal
with criminals and terrorists that routinely operate outside of
the law. However, deterrence is just as much a part of justice as
proper enforcement of the laws. Democratic governments that do not
deter criminals inevitably spawn vigilantism as normally
law-abiding citizens who have lost confidence in the criminal
justice system take the law into their own hands. However, lack of
governmental resolve is only part of the problem. Terrorists
thrive on media exposure, and news organizations around the world
have been all too willing to give terrorists what they crave,
publicity.
Terrorists end up destroying
human rights in their alleged fight for human rights. A relatively
new term for terrorism has been coined, new warfare. Innocent
citizens become targets in the devastating terrorist attacks.
However, terrorists do not live in fear of the governing
authorities in the countries where they live. Their governments do
not think of them as breaking civilian laws and thus do not
prosecute them. In conclusion, terrorism must be recognized as a
new type of military aggression that requires governmental action.
It involves an undeclared war and government officials must take
the same sort of actions that they would if threatened by a
hostile country. There must be changes in order to prevent further
terrorist aggression in this decade and in the future. There has
to be a line drawn if we are too completely eradicates this modern
scourge of terrorism.
Conclusion
To counteract the growth of terrorism and the inhuman meaningless
killing innocent, peace loving people, governments all over the
world must crack on this menace and condemn all terrorist acts as
criminal. What is more, the terrorists cause must not pay;
political blackmail must not get results. While every effort
should be made for peaceful results there must be no flinching
from using force when necessary. Punishments for convicted
terrorists must not be light. Most of all, the publicity which
terrorists receive on such a massive scale must never give. If the
terrorists acts are neither acknowledged nor flaunted abroad with
great fanfare, their balloons will be pricked and their causes
death.
Finally, it is essential that
anti-terrorist strategies are taken upon an emotional scale. It is
essential to have good intelligence on terrorists? and their
plans. This most effective weapon must be kept secret to be
effective. It is also essential to develop the appropriate tools
for handling a terrorist situation including special units of
hostage rescue or other missions and clear legislative authority.
The fight against terrorism must be undertaken by a strongly
united world because it is a fight for humanity. Isn't it?
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Terrorism
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author can be reached at: ashokpnayak@legalserviceindia.com /
