SHORT TAKES
Understanding terrorism
Randeep Wadehra

Terrorism: A Global Challenge
By Yuvacharya Dr Lokesh and Dr Anil Dutta Mishra.
Regal Publications. 
Pages: xii+289. Rs 980.

Terrorism involves actual or threatened use of violence to achieve certain political goals. Usually, non-governmental, irregular or secret outfits carry it out. They resort to unconventional modes of warfare, viz., ambushes, hit-and-run or guerilla tactics. State terrorism is another manifestation of terrorism whereby a state oppresses its own subjects or conquered communities. Terrorism’s aims could be varied, including revolution (the Russian revolutionary movement before World War I was prominently terrorist in nature), or spreading terror in a target community to coerce it into acting according to the terrorists’ wishes, viz., in the southern part of the US, the Ku Klux Klan was set up after the American Civil War (1861-1865) to terrorise former slaves.

Although terrorism has a hoary past — older than the ancient civilisations of Rome and Greece — according to the authors terrorism began to impact the modern world in the 18th and 19th centuries, when secular ideologies and nationalism came into being in the wake of the French Revolution. Moreover, both Communism and Fascism employed terrorism as a principal instrument of policy. Thanks to technological advances, terrorism became more widespread, virulent and destructive from the latter half of the 20th century. The struggle to control the world’s oil and mineral resources intensified the phenomenon globally, particularly in West Asia, ultimately giving rise to Islamic fundamentalism.

Nevertheless, there have been other terrorist movements too. For example, during the 1970s radical left-wing groups, such as the Baader-Meinhoff Gang in West Germany; the Japanese Red Army terrorist group; and the Red Brigades in Italy tried to propagate a violent ultra-leftist ideology in the industrialised countries. In Latin America urban guerrilla movements, such as "Shining Path" and the "Peruvian Maoist" terrorist group left a trail of death and destruction. In India, Naxalites have been active for about four decades now. In Northern Ireland the Irish Republican Army began terrorist attacks in Ireland and elsewhere, not to mention the recently annihilated LTTE in Sri Lanka.

This book gives a comprehensive account of the rise of modern terrorism, along with media perspectives, delineating its impact on world economy and geo-political as well as strategic scenario.

I Love Living
By Rajan.
Jaico.
Pages 214. Rs 195.

There is no dearth of self-help gurus who have made a lucrative career out of telling people how they should live their lives. It is really not a bad thing because, often, we get so caught up in the rat race that we forgo such simple pleasures that actually make our life worth living. To quote Mathew Arnold:

"Is it so small a thing,

This is a collection of Rajan’s lectures that give us an insight into healthy and happy living.

A Complete Guide To Sikhism
By Dr Jagraj Singh.
Unistar.
Pages 367. Rs 495.

Dr Jagraj Singh explains the various aspects of Sikh precepts and practices in a systematic and lucid manner. Sikhism’s value systems and theology as well as its various institutions like the venerable takhts etc, too, have been dealt with in detail. The author has outlined the history of Sikhism, explaining how it is different from Hinduism. Sikhism is understandably an extremely popular subject in this region; but intellectuals need to go off the beaten path and tackle certain other important issues too, e.g., despite the venerable Gurus’ teachings why casteism and intolerance have got so entrenched in the Sikh society and how to deal with the rise of elitism in the community whose basic tenets preach egalitarianism?

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