Sunday, February 24, 2002		Literature

Terror: the reality in South Asia
Jai Narain Sharma

The Killer Instinct
by O P Sabharwal. Rupa, New Delhi. Pages 353. Rs 495.

WE are, we are told, are in the age of deterrence and not of not of war –nor of "brinkmanship" but of "crisis management". Yet below this and to an extent guaranteed by this strategic stalemate lies an underworld of politically motivated violence — sometimes organised, often encouraged by states which, in their official pronouncements, proclaim adherence to peaceful coexistence and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries..

Numbered among its practitioners are the contemporary folk heroes, Mao Zedung, Ho Chiminh and Che Guevara. Intellectuals, who view war between nation states — and the "diplomacy of force" short of it — as an obscenity, sometimes regard terrorism as legitimate since in their view it is not "imposed from aboveve’" but "springs from the people". People die, of course, as irrevocably in the latter case as in the former. Yet the contemporary preoccupation with revolutionary violence has tended to obscure its long history and many antecedents.

The terrorist is a study in contradictions. Terrorists wish the birth of a new kind of social order as a gravedigger must wield the forceps. They wish to impress the world with the reasonableness of their claims but choose the tirade as their preferred means of communication. They stamp their predilections for violent excess with the imprimatur of innocence, yet it is only through the destruction of innocence that their aims can be realised.

How can we understand such contradictions? Even in the admittedly absurd theatre of modern world politics, terrorists appear more than merely avant garde.

They seem genuinely pathological. Or is it, rather, the entire global human condition is diseased, a disintegrating nonlandscape of irrationality in which only verbalised chaos remains truly comprehensible?

What is producing such contradictions? Is it an intangible but pervasive crisis of existential emptiness and despair from which human beings cannot escape?

Is it the objectification of individuals into vast networks of social, economic, and political manipulation? Is it a fundamental disequilibrium that fractures the integrity of the earth’s highly integrated system of cultural and biological adaptation? Or is it "simply" the failure to satisfy the diverse political hopes of unhappy people in unbearable circumstances?

Perhaps, in the Orwellian logic of our time, contradictions must be redefined altogether. Why should they offend our sense of correct reason? After all, we live in a world in which peace is sought through competition in strategic arms; in which the legal equality of states coexists with an institutionalised hierarchy of authority in the United Nations; and in which societies achieve high measures of growth through despoliation of their environments. In this world there is one soldier for every 43 people, Nazi war criminals live almost everywhere undistributed, and a former President of South Vietnam now runs a liquor store in California.

Against the backdrop of such a world situation, can the alleged contradictions of modern terrorism cause real consternation? Since George Orwell wrote the grim fantasy "Nineteen Eghityfour", his notion of "doublethink" has become a new orthodoxy of worldwide human relations. Understood as "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them" doublethink is now manifest not only in political propaganda, but also in the most widely revered documents of national and international law.

But not every instance of insurgency is an act of terrorism. Although specially constituted UN committees and the UN General Assembly have continually condemned acts of international terrorism, they exempt those activities that derive from "the inalienable right to self-determination and independence of all peoples under colonial and racist regimes and in particular the struggle of national liberation movements, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter and the relevant resolutions of the organs of the United Nations".

Our occasion to ponder over the subject is the book under review, "The Killer Instinct’" by l O. P. Sabharwal.. This action-packed book tells the story of Special Forces worldwide and examines these forces. How are they organised, trained and equipped? What are the tasks they carry out in the combat? How do they operate in the battlefield? What is their role in countering terrorism? What will be their role in the context of future warfare?

Tracing the history of raids and rescue missions from the raid on Somnath Temple by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1025, to those of Shivaji on the Mughals in 1663, it goes on to describe the rescue of Mussolini from Italy, and Israeli hostages from Entebbe Airport in Uganda. .

Detailed descriptions and analysis of World War II raids as well as Indian Army commando action against the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir right up to August, 1999, demonstrate the daring of the men who constitute the Special Forces today. With these modern-day Otto Skorzenys and David Stirlings at large, no citadel is secure enough, no army safe from penetration.

The volume also focuses on Pakistan which is waging a systematic and well-planned campaign to promote terrorism in India. Pakistan’s motives are nothing short of destabilising the Indian polity and economy. By injecting the virus of fundamentalism into India, it has been trying to create communal conflicts with the aim of ultimately damaging India’s unity and integrity. Pakistan has waged several unsuccessful war against India, but has not succeed at that time, but there are no signs that it is giving up trying. On the contrary, it seems to have intensified its efforts to destabilise India.

The proxy war that it is waging in Kashmir is not likely to die down. The introduction of foreign mercenaries into the state, under the aegis of Harkat-ul-Ansar and Lakshar-a-Toiba has added a new dimension to the terrorist campaign.

Terrorism is unlikely to vanish from the political scene in the foreseeable future. It will continue to be used extensively to bring about changes in our political structure by alienated groups inside the country, and by external powers to further their own expansionist designs and on ideological grounds.

Conventional wars have become too expensive and in any case, the chances of achieving objectives through them have diminished because of various reasons, the most important being nuclear warfare and the possible international reaction. Moreover, a proxy war waged through terrorism has the advantage of giving the sponsoring country the option of denying its role, if international reaction becomes too hot for it to bear. It is an attractive low-cost option which has greater chances of success. It does not suffer from the risk of the conventional war as it is waged in the victim country’s territory. According to security experts, the option of a proxy war through terrorism will increasingly replace the option of waging a conventional war in the new century.

Hence terrorism is unlikely to vanish from the political scene in the foreseable future. It will continue to be used extensively to bring about changes in our political structure by alienated groups inside the country, and by external powers to further their own expansionist design and on ideological grounds.

In a vast country like India, with a pluralistic society, there is no dearth of ethnic and political groups which are dissatisfied with their present status. Not all of them have secessionist demands but may provide ready material for ambitious political leaders and external forces inimical to India, to manipulate and exploit them for their own designs.

A work such as this, therefore, is more relevant now than ever before.

The description of raids and rescue missions conducted by special forces over the years will serve as a valuable teaching aid for students of warfare as well as a guide for professional soldiers and students of military history, politicians, bureaucrats and above all, ordinary citizens who are most often unfortunate victims of act of terrorism.

"My aim," writes the auther in the preface to the book, "has been to reach young people through "The Killer Instinct" to enable them to develop the sharp reaction ability and "killer instinct", now as necessary on the playfield and the increasingly competitive "real world" as on the battlefield.

I wish the Major General complete in his mission. It is, in fact, this killer instinct which can turn a hopeless situation into a winning one and save us from the menace of terrorism.