|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Into the mind of a terrorist Understanding Terrorism
in South Asia
Imtiaz Ahmed says that
there can be no less than 109 definitions of terrorism, but more
important than looking at this number is to look for the reasons behind
terrorism. Whether to warn, instil fear or act as a retribution for a
perceived grudge, terror groups are always meticulous in their planning
and find ways of getting away. Ranabir Samaddar gives us another
definition for terrorism as "continuing acts of violence around
persistent boundaries, such as between the colonisers and the colonised,
or any other persistent deep differences". In examining the role
of the state and the limits of counter-terrorism in an India and
Bangladesh experience, Shahedul Khan, a retired Bangladesh army officer
and defence editor on The Daily Star (an English daily from
Bangla-desh), opines: "South Asians fighting ‘foreign and
colonial domination’ became national heroes irrespective of the means
employed. He presents Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Suraj Sen of Bengal as
examples. Counter-terrorism often suffers due to the lack of a unified
command. The BSF and the CRPF in India had "rejected the idea of
joint training proposed by the Indian Army". John Perera, a Sri
Lankan who writes on ethnic conflict in his country, says that terrorism
there resulted because of the "lack of responsiveness of the
political system to the deeply felt grievances of sections of the
polity". Dhruba Kumar, in his article on Nepal, speaks of the
anti-state violence by the Maoists and how they understand their acts as
"revolutionary violence with a missionary zeal to transform the
state from oppressive to responsive". Other writers like Sanjoy
Hazarika, writing about militancy in Nagaland, states that the Nagas
"disparage India’s development of the North-Eastern state
structure" and also blame the British for dividing the Nagas
"between Myanmar and India". Although Hazarika makes a brief
mention of the militancy in Punjab and its ruthless crushing, he could
have elaborated on the "whys" of militancy and the role played
by the state and the Centre for political gains. In
Responding’ to Terrorism, S. D. Muni describes how countries in
the region met the challenge and how best the ugly environment of
militancy can be avoided. Ajai Sahni on terrorism in Punjab seems to
grade the role of K. P. S. Gill highly ("The civil police was an
effective counter-terrorist force."), missing out that the scars
these operations left on the Sikh psyche nullified whatever little
normalcy his force may have restored. Jafa, in examining insurgency in
Mizoram, opines: "It was unnecessarily protracted because of the
extreme emotional and physical distress caused by the resettlement of
almost the entire Mizo population, making the solution worse than the
problem. Samina Ahmed suggests state controls over the functioning,
funding and curriculam of the madarsas in Pakistan for stability in the
region. Deepak Thapa’s recipe for tackling insurgency in Nepal could
have done without the last-minute insertion of a postcript on King
Gyanendra’s assumption of power and the events that followed, because
the political and internal situation has radically changed since then.
Ayesha Siddiqa lays out what should fall in the ambit of terrorism and
how the definition of the word would affect our response to
it. Lieut-Gen V. R. Raghavan makes out a strong case for third-party
mediation (pure-power mediation), unless countries like India and
Pakistan wish to stick to the bilateral circuit. In multilateral
initiatives, Muni discusses "the emergence of developmental
assistance donors as peacemakers". As in the case of the Bonn
Initiative in Afghanistan just after the war, the resolve and sincerity
of the purpose of some donor countries should never diminish till
reconstruction is complete. P. V. Ramana’s data paper on terrorism in
the region gives us information that would facilitate further
research. Timely information turned into intelligence by experts,
real-time execution of counter measures by an existing mechanism before
and not after the event, and a political will to exercise all options
can dent terrorism. Though both volumes are good, one would have liked
to see writings from military and police experts who have the practical
knowledge of handling these matters.
|
As one was reading the two books on
terrorism, Mumbai train blasts, timed for maximum effect, exploded in.
Grisly killings of the innocent are now not just knocking at our
doorsteps, but have entered our homes, and we should respond effectively
at every level to this scourge of the twenty-first century. Both books
restrict themselves to South Asia, though the vicious ingredients of
terrorism are mostly common around the world. 
Nira Wickramasinghe
writes of the new forms of terrorism and quotes Kaldor, who had opined
that terrorists of today seek political power, are opposed to modernity
and "believe they are part of a Great War against an ‘other’".