Terrorism as a factor in National and International politics

Terrorism as a factor in National and International politics

Prof. Joseph K Alexander
Speech at the IIPA Seminar on this subject on 24th March

Terrorism is a violent or destructive act of groups to intimidate a population or Govt. to concede to their demands. So it is dramatic to get wide publicity and destructive to strike fear and terror.

Terrorism is a factor to be reckoned with in human society. National and international terrorism are inevitable. This distinction is also unwarranted. The linkage between the two is so ingrained that national terrorism feeds on international Diaspora support and the two cannot be separated. Universal education and awareness of one’s rights on the one hand and increase of inequality in economic growth make the deprived and marginalized to cry out and revolt against the existing Govt. / social / religious order that perpetrate these deprivations and inequality. Ideal state or Rama Rajya is an aspiration and dream of every reasoning mind. He expects a dignified, participatory and non-discriminatory life in such a dream land. In real life situation, the failure of the Govt. / society to provide these dreams is the background of all terrorism. All Govt.s / societies face terrorism and try to alleviate its pains. India is no exception.

The causes of terrorism in India are of four kinds:
Political. In Assam and Tripura terrorism arose due to the failure of the Govt. to control illegal migration of Muslims from Bangladesh and other nearby states. So the sons of the soil felt economic deprivation and revolted. PLA, ULFA, NDFB are all examples.
Ethnic. In Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur it is the ethnic separateness that create terrorism. The entire North East is the home of about 200 ethnic communities spread all over including the nearby states of Tibet, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. The autonomy movements of many were solved by the creation of the Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. In Assam and these states the tensions among these tribal groups within the states create terrorist insurgency including tribal conflicts.
Economic. Bihar, MP, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh are all parts of the BIMARU states in India. They are under-developed compared to other states. Absence of land reforms, absence of the Govt. depts. and machinery in the remote areas to look after the economic welfare of the weaker sections, rural unemployment; and poverty in general, paved the way for ideological groupings of the people under various names like Naxalites, Maoists etc. Insurgency and attack on police stations and minor terrorist violence are perceived in these areas.
Religious. Punjab before 1995 and J&K since 1989 are clear examples of religion based terrorism. (The Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh terrorist group, blew up Air India's Kanishka aircraft off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985; The Khalistan Commando Force, a Sikh terrorist group, kidnapped foreign diplomats and others) Muslims under the Liberation Front banner demand a Muslim State for all the Muslims in India, Pakistan and China. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen want J&K to merge with Pakistan. Since 1980 in the thousands of violent incidents in J&K 26,226 lives have been lost. The insecurity of the people in their every day life is a greater loss to the community.
Political terrorism comparatively is less suicidal. But religious terrorism resort to suicidal attacks, mass annihilation of human life by suicidal human bombs, vehicle bombs and air craft high jacking and destruction

Caste and communal clashes leading to atrocities against dalits and retaliations by bhumi senas and dalit senas are a minor variety of terrorism existing in India. But the recent birth of a new type of terrorism of the new Hindutva organizations like Rama Sena and Bhajranga Dal is unfortunate. They attacked a couple of weeks ago the women in a pub in Mangalore and prevent boys and girls of different communities sitting and chatting or riding in bus as violation of moral codes. This is communal terrorism. The same thing happened in Orissa when the Dalit Christian community and their priests and churches were attacked by the Hindu majority. While the former is an attempt to get mileage in election by the BJP, the latter was more an economic based communal attack of the poor by the rich.
Religious and ethnic terrorists have external links and moral and material support from overseas Diasporas. Clandestine contributions from Pakistan’s ISI (Inter service Intelligence), Pan- Islamic Jihads in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Criminal groups like Dawood Ibrahim and funds from Narcotic smuggling, pour in to help these terrorists. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar provide sanctuaries and training facilities for these terrorists. The recent 26/11 Bombay Taj Mahal terrorist attack by Pakistanis is a typical example.
Powers of the State Govts have been enhanced by various legislations and administrative and financial provisions to combat terrorism. Apart from the police forces a number of para military forces have been created all over the country. A network of intelligence agencies like RAW, CBI, Dept, of Economic & Business intelligence, etc; have also been created. A number of legislations like National Security Act 1980, Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 have all been passed to combat special kinds of terrorism. The TADA (Terrorist & Disruptive Activities Prevention Act) and POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) were repealed in 1995 and 2004 respectively because of the opposition to their misuse by certain governments like Gujarat which arrested thousands and jailed them on flimsy grounds.
India has also played a major part in strengthening international consensus against terrorism in UN, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). India is party to major international conventions against terrorism and has also incorporated them in domestic legislation...Pakistan is also a party to international conventions of UN and SARC. Yet it is they who harbor the entire anti-Indian terrorist. The countries around us want India to be pre-occupied with anti-terrorism than concentrate on Economic planning and progress It is true that part of our resources are spent to combat terrorism It is the duty of all normal Govt.s. to adopt such preventive measures. Yet national and international terrorism by the very definition of it will continue to exist in any and all human societies.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx