What is terrorism? It makes all the more difficult to define the term terrorism in just one paragraph with the kind of dimension that it has assumed!
It is popularly described in two ways, one version by the ones who commit it and the other version by the ones who face it and undergo victim-hood.
Those of who do the terrorism themselves glorify it as fight for freedom, fight for political belief, fight for social right, fight for equality or sometimes popularly and conveniently termed as ‘Jihad’ and those who face it, condemn it as heinous act, barbaric act, act of the cowardice.
So by the way the subject of terrorism or the acts of violence gets represented by the body language of the presenter or the tone of speech, you can now decipher who the Terrorist is and who is the Victim, right?
1.0 History and background
Incidentally, Terrorism has connection with the famous French revolution of late 18th century wherein the word terrorism was derived from the French word “terrorisme”, uttered in reference to the rule of Jacobian faction also said in Latin as terror, which is to generate extreme sense of fear amongst civilians and innocents by the armed fighters.
The word Terrorism evolved since the late 18th century, in reference to the rule of the Jacobin faction, it is also believed to have derived from Latin verb “terrere” or to cause to tremble. After the Jacobian’s lost power this very word was termed as abuse.
We have not been able to get over the horrifying word till in the midst of the 21st Century i.e. even after almost 3 centuries, with every passing day it is becoming grave and graver and may reach a limit beyond imagination.
The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, seeking revengeful vengeance, especially against civilians, unarmed population, innocents, women and children in the pursuit of political, social, religious aims etc., falls within the ambit of terrorism.
This menace is not just a localized problem but today it has assumed International dimension. There are several mechanisms that are being devised to fight it from International perspective.
Terrorism is the act performed by generally the non-state actors and evokes fear in the mind of innocents. State actors who have limited courage adopt this cowardly route to destabilize their opponents. Targets are incapacitated, unarmed, innocent persons who have no link to their idealism. Terrorist do not know whom are they killing, don’t really understand their cause well and are thoroughly misguided by their masters. At times some states who are not courageous enough to fight the battle themselves and win on the basis of brevity; clandestinely send their mercenaries and guerrillas to terrorise to primarily create media attention and attract the attention of the international community by attacking and killing ‘innocents’ preferably a popular public place frequented by multinational visitors.
Terrorism cannot be made an act of bravery as the handlers of terrorism do not generally confront the armed and equipped state personnel who are in a position to rebut their act, but unfortunately attacks vulnerable groups like unarmed civilians, women, children in schools, who has nothing to do with either for or against their mission and objective. Thus the act of terrorism are acts of cowards who cannot have enough courage to face war officially following the international rules in place and can therefore be called as act of cowardice in no uncertain terms.
In modern times "Terrorism" usually refers to the killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle. In November 2004, a United Nations Security Council report described terrorism as any act "Intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act".
In many countries including India, acts of terrorism are legally distinguished from criminal acts done for other purposes, and "terrorism" is defined by statute or law.
2.0 Is Terrorism a part of larger conflict?
All conflict arises in humanity out of the reason that we are out of touch with the actual reality, means at the fundamental level, we human beings are totally interdependent with each and everything else existing in the Universe. There is ‘one inseparable wholeness’ exists in the Universe which is sole origin of all our resources. This is basic concept spelt out in the wisdom traditions of east: Vedanta. Separate self, individuality and becoming extremely selfish and not caring about others or anything surrounding us is an illusionary and delusionary attitude. Thus to begin with care for humanity and environment is the starting point of selflessness and this idea is close to true nature of our beings.
Conflict is a natural phenomenon, it persists and pervades. The conflict gives rise perpetually and history is the witness to this fact. Conflict mongers also keep it alive for various beneficial reasons for their sustenance, like arms producing countries wish to keep the engagement alive to maintain their sale of arms for a profitable business venture. Conflict between daughter in law and mother in law gives rise to soap opera business, but let us accept that all these are naturally arising.
Terrorism, therefore, may be a part of larger conflict to attain control of events and may be a part of power struggle. There are power centers who have extreme desire for control, consequently they keep the conflict alive by mischievous means and don’t allow the same to subside.
India may be victim of this, we all should better be aware now, if not already.
3.0 Terrorists have no religion true or false.
‘Terrorists have no religion’ is yet another myth and unsubstantiated statement. Religion has so far proved to be the key element involved in the terrorists’ activities. If religion is not abused, majority of the terrorist activities shall cease to exist.
When the terrorists are eliminated they are mostly buried and mortal remains are disposed of according to their own individual, firm and respective religious beliefs and there is no equality there. Therefore, irony is those who fight for equality and lay their life are treated unequally on death.
Seventy two virgins and life in heaven are unrealistic assumptions neither supported by science nor spirituality and is the most common motivation for terrorists by which they are lured into the oblivion of non-realism.
The holy Quran translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, (Goodword Books 2105) has reference to Verse 8:38 where unbelievers of Allah are to be dealt as “And fight with them on until there is no more persecution or oppression, and religion becomes Allah’s in its entirety, but if they cease, surely Allah does see all that they do.
Here fighting of persecution and oppression is talked about and not creating the same adverse effect on others unless faced first by the subjects.
Verse 9:29 states, “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, (even if they are) of the people of the Book, until they pay the ‘Jizyah’ (poll tax) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
If you don’t believe the Allah then it can be neutralized by payment of poll tax, so that there is no issue, thereafter.
Verse 9:30 “The Jews call, ‘Uzayr a son of God, and the Christians call The Christ the son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse to be on them: how they are deluded from the truth!”
Holy Quran thus depicts and recognizes that Allah is the ultimate truth. Nothing wrong; all other religions say the same.
However, there are certain preachers who misguide and mislead about religious dictates and sermons and attempt to cause turbulence in the society for other selfish benefits and serve their own hidden agendas, which are the matters of complicated research.
Thus 'Terrorist' groups are at times made up of frustrated, exasperated, disillusioned people who feel that society is deeply unfair to them and social injustice have had affected them the most. They believe that peaceful politics cannot solve their problems and it is acceptable to break the law and adopt violence to achieve change. They are the believers of ‘Ballot cannot bring about the desired change but bullet can’.
Many a times it has been observed from the voice intercepts of the Terrorists and their handlers that they invoke the name of respective God almost in every sentence that they exchange especially during the carnage and crisis. Terrorists while executing various acts of terrorism on ground are also known to have uttered religious phrases in all of the recent attacks in Europe, USA, India and elsewhere in the globe.
Terrorism is a serious conflict in the minds of the planners or the conspirators, thereafter they take advantage of the weak point of the society like of the economic backwardness and other social injustices and recruit young boys and girls from that indigent social strata and motivate them mostly in the name of religion.
Terrorists have no religion, is therefore a delusionary statement, it is nothing more than a misnomer, a politically correct statement, meant for serving ‘I am holier than thou’ self-certification and vote bank agenda and nothing more.
4.0 History of terrorism in India
Terrorism in India presumed to have started before India got independence in 1947 but during those times the terrorist activities aimed to create a fear among the British Rulers and not to kill the general civilians, vulnerable groups such as women and children, innocents. So we cannot call these freedom fighters as terrorists, but after 1947 the terrorism activities were instigated to kill the innocent masses of weak, susceptible and defenseless population. In early times the Kashmir, Punjab and North East Frontier part was affected by terrorism.
But in current scenario the terrorism domain has been on the rise. The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and Seven Sister North Eastern States (independence and autonomy movements). Kolkata of West Bengal appears to act as a hub as there are hardly any explosions taking place there, where on the contrary all other places in India have not been spared to that extent. In the past, the Punjab insurgency led to militant activities in the Indian state of Punjab as well as the national capital Delhi, which of course have died its natural death.
In Indian context the concern for the terrorism, it is the main attribute of the terrorist activities on this soil is that it is in the form of religious terrorism. Religious terrorism is terrorism performed by groups or individuals, the motivation of which is typically rooted in the religious based tenets. Terrorist acts throughout the centuries have been performed on religious grounds with the hope to either spread or enforce a system of belief, viewpoint or opinion. In current scenario the domestic and external terrorist activities are increasing in monumental proportion, something appears to be out of control of the Government security machinery.
One of the dreadful incidents that took place was of 26/11 in Mumbai, where a group of ten trained terrorists killed 168 people and injuring more than three hundred. Many daughters lost their father and saw it right before their own eyes body to get splintered into pieces in a moment. That was the eye witness story of one of the helpless innocent girl, out of the entire operation that lasted around four frightful days.
The statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj planned by the Government having identified at a strategic location in Arabian Sea near coast of Mumbai is to provide an ‘immersive experience’ using both traditional curatorial skills and contemporary virtual-reality based technologies. This will help anti-terror surveillance and have an opportunity to earn perpetual revenue, which can be directed for social security of the adjacent coastal area. The exhibits will not only re-animate the ‘life and times’ of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s but provide visitors deep insight into his character and showcase his progressive vision of a cohesive and inclusive nation.
This may be an intrepid step to help promote social tranquility in the adjacent area.
5.0 Criminology and Jurisprudence of Terrorism
Considering the criminology of terrorists and according to Italian Physicist and Criminologist Dr. Cesare Lombroso, terrorists are born criminals, but later advent in criminology by Enrico Ferri determined it as Anthropological. Raffaele Garofalo an Italian magistrate mentioned it as a moral organisation based on thought process. Overall it has been revealed that Terrorists are the victims of circumstances consisting of locality, environment, childhood incidents and situations etc. and all reasons combined with genetic, anthropological, thought process and circumstances notwithstanding, all are attributable to the acts and omissions of Terrorism and no single cause can be ruled out. (#2)
World tower collapse of Manhattan, NewYork USA of 9/11 is the unforgettable date, where the twin tower was made to collapse by hijacked aircraft directly hitting the two buildings containing all ‘innocents’. The reason this incident deserves a mention that after this, the human rights perception for terrorist’s rights changed for good.
Now the United nation commission on human rights denies human rights for terrorists which otherwise were of the opinion that terrorist are also human so they should also have human rights, changed to this new concept in humane perspective in view of the new philosophy of Jurisprudence for the terrorists. Thus Jurisprudence in dealing with terrorism has also failed to evolve a solution to a large extent. The offence is to be viewed strictly or the offender has always been a question that hounded the Jurists.
In India, we had a few of the anti-terror laws but many of them were not implementable, the reason attributable for non-enforcement may be ourselves, our flawed value system of democracy, vote bank politics, our dishonesty in misusing the power of position and authority, our hidden agendas, misplaced intents and ultimately not being honest to ourselves and to our national pride.
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), are Acts of the Parliament of India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in dealing with insurgency, what the Act terms as "disturbed areas". One such act passed on September 11, 1958 was applicable to the Naga Hills, then part of Assam. Thereafter, it was greatly in force in Jammu & Kashmir for handling of foreign shore sponsored insurgency. However, there are widespread allegations of misuse and fast until death saga of Irom Sharmila’s of Manipur and elsewhere reinstates that view.
Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act or TADA, enacted in the year 1985 and allowed to lapse in 1995 due to unpopularity and widespread allegations of abuse.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was passed by the Indian Parliament in 2002, but by the time it was October 2004, the Act was repealed. This time for it being abused against the political opponents and many high profile cases like Vaiko came to limelight.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Amendment Act 2012 (#1) This piece of legislation was introduced way back in 1963 and enacted in 1967 to protect the unity and integrity of the Nation and was amended in 2012 with emphasis on possession of nuclear arms, aircraft hijacking, money laundering and economic security point of view. However, this Act also proved to be ineffective and inadequate. This to certain extent was inspired by the American law of JASTA “Justice against Sponsors of Terrorism Act”.
6.0 Terror Funding
The financing of terror organisation is fascinating indeed and may be considered the root cause of terrorism. Without funding of their activities in a systematic and organised manner, it would not be possible to sustain any terror operation.
Funding problem through Hawala and other illegal route is an international problem and there are various means that have been considered in the past by all countries including USA, Australia, and European countries but without any major success.
There are stumbling blocks are somewhat intriguing and raises suspicion as to why these funding are not being blocked. If this stalling is successful then there is some hope to see the end of this dreadful menace. Severe financial control at various points of exchange needs to be done.
Cash is a menace with fair chance to avoid responsibility. Large cash handling needs to be discouraged and banned if required, across the World and digital mode needs to be resorted by all Nations, seeking peace and tranquility, so that it facilitates tracking of money transactions. Thus it will make the life of the terrorist outfits difficult to operate under the veil of charitable organisations.
7.0 Conclusion
When Americans have realized that no terrorist activity can take place in their soil unless the local help angle is addressed in its right spirit, terrorist who are strangers to the land where they have been assigned to perform terrorist act, cannot conduct acts of violence, unless they are aided and abetted with a local emotional and logistics support.
That is the reason they are more serious about the sponsors of terrorism rather than the terrorist themselves. The Indians shall also need to realize this issue, no sooner than later, and become extraordinarily alert in their respective neighborhood, so as to operate as a preventive mechanism for nipping terrorism activities in the bud.
Today the ‘enemies within’ and sympathisers of unlawful activities are bigger threats than threat of any external aggression.
If India wants to achieve its goals of development, peaceful environment has a great impact and evoking patriotism in ourselves becomes an important factor, as it will radically reduce the enemies within our own country.
Press reports and past incidents suggest that the terrorist’s attacks of Jammu & Kashmir and Mumbai 26/11 could not have taken place, if there were no local handlers assisting the enemies with logistics and information. Patriots, are therefore, to remain extra vigilant for any kind of suspicious activity in the neighborhoods, not only for self-protection and self-defense but also for overall security of the society and Nation.
The power struggle, extreme desire and urge to control affairs around them may be many out of the root causes for conflict and terrorism thereof. Terrorism cannot be dismissed as solitary events and actually are the evil designs of their masters and in general an organised crime and dreadful activity.
Terrorists have been found in possession of latest and upto date ammunition and improved explosive devices (IDE). One amongst them popularly known as AK 47 assault rifles or Kalashnikov machine guns, capable of firing upto 390 rounds of fire in one go. Unless there exist a systematic funding and training regime, it is not a child’s play to organise and operate these killer ammunition.
It is a matter of great distress that the worst sufferers of Terrorism are unsuspecting, innocents, women and children who has no knowledge about what is going on and what for people in conflict inflict their lives.
Psychology of terrorists persists with their delusion about their own life, not knowing about their true nature and misplaced identity. Terrorism is a criminal conspiracy against the institution of humanity and recognition of this fact is universal.
Nuclear weapons & terrorism are the biggest threat facing the World that we live in today, if Nuclear arms slips into the hands of terrorists, for which there exists enough suspicion, then there will be no respite and World is certain to be not far away from destruction.
There is a famous saying that “When people shout there's no understanding, when people make minimum sounds that shows a better understanding but interestingly intense love happens on silence. To quote in famous poet Rumi’s words,
“I choose to love you in silence…
For in silence I find no rejection”
Hence, to further the cause of understanding, and obliterate the feeling of rejection around we all need to work is in silence to bring about peace and minimize conflicts.
Ultimately, it can be seen that World has become a lunatic asylum because of social disparity, social injustice, inequality and all that promote conflict and its vulnerability towards self- destruction.
Here are people who fight for no real cause and terrorism is nothing but mischievous actions of certain sections of the society, this evil needs eradication with an equal, if not better, systematic methodology than what organised terrorists intend to do.
Future of terrorism is therefore in our hands, the ordinary citizens of the globe and country by being extraordinarily alert, truthfully vigilant and consciously aware of the phenomenon to be successfully able to guard against this outrageous destructive menace.
Then we all must collectively make endeavours to build our country the most livable place on the planet and strive for excellence in terms of progress and human development, as it is many amongst joint and several responsibilities and not to be passed upon solely on the Government of the day as their liability.
#JaiHind
#1. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/anti&-8208-terrorism-laws-in-india-382-1.html
#2. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546553.2014.959405?journalCode=ftpv0
#3. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RJ7PftMXx2oC&oi=fnd&pg=PA17&dq=criminology+of+terrorism&ots=7UYJQETW-
O&sig=VC2BPGhNV4taOfzcsgIHBdSL058#v=onepage&q=criminology%20of%20terrorism&f=false
