Terrorism is undoubtedly the most important issue facing India because it not only threatens peace but also threatens the very existence of India as a secular, democratic, and economically viable nation with strong grounding in rule of law and due process. Study of terrorism in India should not or cannot be limited to developments within the nation alone as terrorist elements are no longer limited by region, language, or nationality. Instead, they have learnt best practices of defense forces, businesses, and Governments become global, borderless, and more intense than ever before. If in today’s world, human lives and peace are the terms of business, those owning terrorist organizations have more market share than all dictators put together.
Over the years, terrorism has evolved from pure ideology-driven movements to fighting injustice to nationality based terrorism to religion-based terror. At this time, contrary to what some extreme right wing population would say, we insist that Islam should not be equaled to terrorism; however, there is enough evidence to suggest some in the Whhabbi sect of Islam are actively sponsoring and encouraging terrorism. Worse still is that those actively sponsoring terrorism in the name of Islam have formed a lose federation to coordinate activities, finance, intelligence, and resources. There are increasingly blurred lines between groups as they use Matrix form of organization to vector resources, use sources, and execute operations.
Terrorists do not obey any laws, conform to accepted standards, or desist from inhuman methods to get their way but expect nation-states to do so. Being media-smart, they exploit visual imagery of instant television news channels who do not take time out to study imagery or information before beaming them to convey messages. Being technology-smart, they use the freedom of the Internet to communicate with each other through bulletin boards, post news on portals that deify terrorism, and communicate to cadre. Being social-smart, they exploit poverty to co-opt populations to commit heinous acts of violence against civilians, harvest natural sympathy for the underdog to gain safe passage and shelter, and coerce unarmed populations to extract supplies and extort monies.
Globally, Government response has been weak, halted, inconsistent, and clumsy. In the enthusiasm to fight terror, Governments have violated their own laws, committed excesses on their own population, and compromised the lives of their own security forces. Despite billions of dollars being poured into this global war on terrorism, the net result is that the current approach to terror has failed to yield solid results because of a lack of commitment from some nations, cohesion in thought between states, and lack of understanding of causes that encourage terror. In fact, the current war on terrorism is akin to trying to rid a garden of gophers with broom sticks.
The war on terror needs a serious re-orientation:
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Terrorism has to be defined in a way that does not favor one nation or the other. At present, terror has been defined as the al Qaeda and its fight only benefiting the US.
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Nations states fighting terror must be required to follow norms of financial control of organizations suspected of perpetuating terror. At present, nations argue with each other based on intelligence one has but without much support from the other. If necessary, there needs to be an appellate panel which behaves like an escrow organization which can review confidential intelligence input from one nation and not reveal that information to another in order not to compromise the accuser’s intelligence assets.
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There needs to be strict financial norms set to control the flow of money to support terror. At present, monies are transferred via Hawala transactions (an illegal banking system that allows transfer of money to terrorists), legitimate banking systems, and through questionable charities.
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Education syllabus in nation states must teach children that all forms of violence in the name of religion, language, sex, ethnicity, economy, race, etc is bad. At present, educational systems in several countries continue to teach that a Jihad is acceptable and in other nations that White race is superior. Also, in many nations, education through religious seminaries remains unregulated teaching hatred and suspicion of other religions, communities, and countries.
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There must be a clear protocol requiring arrest or capture of terrorists perpetuating terror in one nation but escaping to another to avoid justice. At present, terrorists being pursued may enter another nation but are rarely captured because of political inconvenience or expediency.
These five issues need immediate solutions if the war on terror should succeed.
Terrorism from Pak
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Army Plans for Nuke Attack
Faced by increasing
intelligence that non-state
actors plan to attack
nuclear facilities in the
nation, the Indian Army has
set up special teams to
coordinate and execute
response to nuclear attacks.
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LeT Targeting Sensitive
Spots
Senior Indian officials took
umbrage to US comments
absolving Pakistan on the
7/11 Mumbai blasts and said
they have actionable
intelligence that the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
was behind the terrorist
attack and of plans to
attack sensitive spots.
.
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Political Failure in War on
Terror
The continued politicking
dealt a serious blow to
India’s ability to fight
terror as Opposition sought
to embarrass the Government
more than solving the issue
while the senior Ministers
sought to divide the country
further on the basis of
religion.
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Mumbai Restarts, Terrorist
Hunt Continues
In true defiance of
terrorism, Mumbai restarted
life in just 12 hours after
8 blasts ripped through
suburban trains causing
scores of death and mayhem
even as authorities are on
heels of Islamic terrorists
from Pakistan outsourced
terror to local
disenfranchised youth.
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Terrorists Target Mumbai
Again
Terrorists struck Mumbai,
the Indian financial nerve
center, by blasting a string
of 7 powerful bombs within
11 minutes on commuter
trains and stations packed
to the brim at commute hour
killing 150 people and
injuring 439 others.
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Terrorism in Bangladesh
Terrorism in
Afghanistan
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Pakistan Promises More Troops for Terror
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri
said that President Musharraf promised visiting US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 10,000 more
troops on its border with Afghanistan.<More>
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50 Taliban Dead, Riots against US
US Planes bombed a mosque in Halmand in Southern
Afghanistan killing 50 Taliban terrorists including
several unspecified Taliban leaders; the Taliban has
not responded to this claim.<More>
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ITBP Protects BRO in Afghanistan
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will provide
the Army’s Border Roads Organization (BRO) security
from Taliban and al Qaeda while they construct the
crucial road linking Zalranj to Delaram to link Iran
with Afghanistan.<More>
Internal Terrorism Through
Naxalism
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Some Successes against Naxals
Finally, there seems to be some forward movement
on some policies from the Federal Home Ministry
and some successes against Naxals in Andhra
Pradesh with the topmost terrorist in that state
killed in an encounter by the elite Greyhound
Force.
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Broader Naxal Agenda
The recent daring attack on a Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) protect camp is causing Home
Ministry officials to finally pay attention to a
politically-discredited Naxal blueprint document
that describes their plan to further their evil
agenda.
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Naxal Violence Unseats Terrorism in J&K
Junior Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal admitted
in Parliament that the Naxal menace in India is
more threatening, cause more disruption, and
resulted in more deaths that the
Pakistan-inspired terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.
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Patterns of Global Terrorism
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India Signs Nuclear Terrorism Convention
Sharing the objective of the International Convention
for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism to deny
terrorists access to nuclear materials and enhance
international cooperation to prevent nuclear terrorism,
India announced its acceptance of this measure.
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Poll Says US Troops Greater Peace Threat
A poll of people in Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and
Russia rated the presence of US troops in Iraq is a
greater threat to world peace than the Government of
Iran and such opinion was even lower in Indonesia,
Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan.
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China Firm on Fighting Terror
China vowed to strengthen coordination efforts and
support for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) “To fight the
‘three evil forces’ including the ‘East Turkistan’ force
and safeguard security and stability in the region.
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Indonesia frees radical Islamic cleric
Indonesia set free radical imprisoned Islamic cleric Abu
Bakar Baasyir convicted for his role in "a sinister
conspiracy to cause a fire or explosion resulting in
deaths" after he completed his prison term that was
reduced to about 26 months from 30.
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Al-Qaeda’s Top Iraqi Man Killed
Intelligence driven precision air raid on a safe house
in Baquba killed al Qaeda’s main man responsible for
most terrorist incidents in Iraq who carried a bounty of
USD 25 million.
<More>
