Dr.K.M.Sajad Ibrahim
In the contemporary world no other issue has acquired much importance than terrorism. This is mainly because of the impact of terrorism basically affects the civilians. In fact, the issue of terrorism is not located in one or two places in the world; rather most of the regions of the world are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Similarly, the nature of terrorism is not same even in one region. Even though terrorism is treated as a great menace to global peace and security, it has been recognized many as the right way of expression of protest against injustice and colonialism against a powerful enemy. Hence many terrorist movements are popular, at least in their respective regions. While examining the methods of counter terrorism, it is equally important to understand the nature and objectives of terrorism. Any blind opposition to terrorism will not help to wipe out terrorism. To secure permanent peace, it is essential to understand the major undercurrents of terrorism.
Meaning and Nature of Terrorism
Terrorism’s most enduring feature remains its capacity to provoke anger, frustration and fear. Terror incidents are sudden, violent, and highly publicized. The concept of terrorism is deeply contested. The use of the term is often polemical and rhetorical. In principle, terrorism is deliberate and systematic violence performed by small numbers of people. It is mainly political and symbolic unlike any other violence. The term terrorism has its origin in the French revolution, during which it had a positive annotation, being associated with virtue and democracy. In the contemporary world terrorism has pejorative implications. Terror, as a concept means “intimidating”, but this intimidating is in great intensity and capable of creating sudden feeling of fear on individuals. Even though terror is frequently used the actions in question today, there is no other definition accepted and recognized by all. Many new definitions have been introduced regarding terror, but in the international arena, no common concept has been determined. This is because the person who is declared as the terrorist by one side is called a warrior of freedom by the other side.
The 9/11 attacks unleashed an army of scholars trying to pinpoint the root cause of terrorism, with most of that effort focused on Middle Eastern and Islamic societies. But two years after the attacks, no consensus has emerged. One group believes economic reasons to be the underlying causes of terrorism and point a finger at economic inequality being a root cause of terrorist violence. However, such ideas are rejected by some others on the ground of terrorist operations in the Middle East. Most of the terrorist groups in the Middle East are targeting Israel and the US. So it is naturally fighting against the US policy of upholding the illegal occupations of Israel. So, post 9/11, majority of academicians and intellectuals are asserting that the Islamic terrorist attacks are part of clash civilizations as envisaged by Samuel Huntington. At the same time, the US President George Bush insists that the American war on terrorism is not a war on Islam rather “it is against barbarism by the civilized world”. As part of this, the US has mainly targeted Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and replaced regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq with the help of military aggression. Moreover, the US described terrorism as a great menace to peace and democracy in the world. Ironically, the countries that extended support to the US in the Middle East have no relation with democracy. So it is obvious that the US targets only those terrorists who harm its interests in international affairs.
If we trace the growth of Muslim fundamentalism in the latter half of the twentieth century that the US itself had played an important role in its expansion. During the cold war period, the US provided major assistance in the shape of military hardware, expertise and finance to Muslim fundamental organizations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East to fight the Soviet-backed regimes. It was Saudi Arabia, who with the full support of the US injected the doctrine of jihad in legitimizing the war for Muslim warriors. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the same group turned against the US intervention in the Middle East. Moreover, the US is blindly supporting the state-sponsored terrorism promoted by Israel and Pakistan.
The US vehemently condemned the terrorist attacks on innocent people. At the same time during the Gulf war of 1990-01, Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, hundreds of innocent people and children lost their life due to the American bombing. Moreover, Israel has been following the same policy since its inception in 1948. These are some of the instances of double standards adopted by the US policy towards terrorism. Terrorist groups in the Middle East are mainly opposing the aggressive policies of Israel. Even the UN failed to take any action against the unjust policies of Israel due to the veto power exercised by the US. In this context, it is imperative to understand the real nature and objectives of terrorism.
Types of Terrorism
Most of the Scholars believe that there are six different sorts of terrorism viz. nationalist, religious, state-sponsored, left-wing, right-wing and anarchist. Nationalist terrorists seek to form separate state for their own national group, often by drawing attention to a right for ‘national liberation’ that they think the world has ignored. This sort of terrorism has been among the most successful at winning international sympathy and concessions. Nationalist terrorism is difficult to define since many groups accused of practice that they are not terrorist but freedom fighters. Eg. Palestinian liberation movements like Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc.; Irish Republican army, Basque Fatherland and Liberty, which seeks to create a Basque homeland separate from Spain; and the Kurdish Workers Party, which seeks to create a Kurdish state independent from Turkey. Earlier nation terror groups were Irgun and Lehi (both Jewish militants for creating Jewish sate) in 1940s and the National Liberation Front (opposed to French rule in Algeria in the 1950s).
Religious terrorists seek to use violence to further what they see a divinely commanded purpose, often targeting broad categories of foes in an attempt to bring about sweeping changes. Religious terrorists came from many major faiths, as well as from small cults. Examples include Osama bin Laden’s Al- Qaeda net work, the radical Jewish groups affiliated with the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Israeli extremists Baruch Goldstein ((who machine gunned Muslim worshipers in a Hebron Mosque in 1994) and Yigal Amir (who assassinated then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995).
The state-sponsored groups are deliberately used by radical states as foreign policy tools. America and Former Soviet Union had effectively used this mechanism during the cold war period. In the post-cold war period America is the frontrunner deploying this method by killing innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq and also supporting some secessionist movements in Latin America. The left wing and right wing terrorists groups are located in some countries for creating their own states or demanding for their recognition. They are seen in Nepal, Tibet, African countries and countries in the South East Asia. Anarchists group also find in many locations fighting against democracy and Parliamentary institutions.
Reasons for the Rise of Terrorism
Several reasons are cited for the rise of terrorism. Among all the reasons, the most important one is the current unipolar world, dominated by the US. The US has been viewed by many groups as a threat to their regional economic and political interest. Unlike in the cold war period, no other power in the contemporary world is ready to challenge the US interventions in many parts of the world. Hence many movements and groups have claimed the role of challenging the US presence in their areas. Most of the terrorist groups in the Middle East have come under this category. Similarly, in the era globalization, the promotion of global market has been treated as the most important. Hence the twenty first century witnessed free movement people across borders in search of jobs or promoting business activities. This mass migration has been viewed by the indigenous people as a threat to their culture.
The revolutionary development in the field of communication net work was a boost for the activities of various terrorist movements. In the conventional mode, the chances for the prediction of terrorist strikes were possible. Hence to some extend the terrorist attacks were foiled. But with the availability of WMD and high technology the terrorists enjoy the advantage of operating its activities more intensively and clandestinely. The economic backwardness constituted another vital factor for the rise of terrorism. Most of the people recruited for the terrorist activities belong to poor families. As such, the availability people to join for these activities further encouraged the terrorist to indulge in violence. The state sponsored terrorism and state’s indirect support to some terrorist groups were identified as a boost for many terrorist activities in many parts of the world.
Methods of Counter Terrorism
Since most of the terrorist attacks are launched against the intervention of foreign forces, the dominant powers in the world should be ready to end their policy of intervention and colonialism. The withdrawal foreign forces, especially from the Middle East region, would help to reduce the activities of the terrorist groups. Similarly, Israel should vacate all the Arab lands and thereby follow a policy of compromise with all other countries in the region. In this respect the US and other western powers have a crucial role of not supporting the aggressive policy of Israel.
In other cases, stringent legislation should be brought about to handle the individuals who have nexus with terrorist groups. In this respect civil liberties of the citizens are threatened due to the presence of such ‘special laws’. Hence, the states will have to measure the risk of compromising on civil liberties in the name of security.
Collection and analysis of intelligence is perhaps the ‘least visible’ but in many ways one of the most important counter-terrorist tools. It is often perceived as the ‘first line of defence against’ terrorism. However, the challenge is that the information gathered can often be too fragmentary, ambitions and lacking in credibility. Military force is the perhaps the most powerful counter terrorist action, and the most visible demonstration to defeat the terrorists. The consequences of a security response cannot always be, and rarely are, anticipated.
Diplomacy is vital mechanism to counter terrorism. Since the terrorist network is scattered far and wide, the time has come to strengthen ‘counter-terrorist diplomacy’. The cooperative effort of the international community in this direction is inevitable under the circumstances. It needs to be pointed out that counter terrorist diplomacy is not necessarily the job of the professional diplomats attached to the foreign ministries of their states. However, the cooperation of officials from other ministries is essential to coordinate such counter terrorist movement.
World Peace: Contemporary Realities
World peace can be attained only with the existence of certain conditions viz., democracy, freedom, rights, equality and justice. In the contemporary world constant struggles are going on in different forms for the realization of theses objectives. In fact, one form of struggles is in the nature of terrorism. Most of the struggles are for freedom and justice. Unfortunately these struggles are most important threats to global peace. The aggressive and colonial policies of the US invited more violence than peace. The case of Iraq and Afghanistan is cited as the examples of deterioration of the law and order situation. Theses places witness incidents of violence at a regular interval in the form of terrorism. So war not only kills innocent lives but also devastates the entire structure of peaceful society leading to protracted violence and conflicts.
With the end of the Cold War, nuclear dangers did not evaporate. Rather, new dangers of nuclear proliferation, terrorism and war emerged, in a climate of public ignorance, apathy and denial. Awakening the public to these dangers and building global peace are the greatest challenges of our time, challenges made necessary by the power and threat of nuclear arsenals. Peace is a two-sided coin: it requires ending war as a human institution and controlling and eliminating its most dangerous weapons, but it also requires building justice and ending structural violence.
One important policy should be to oppose society’s thrust toward war and injustice, and to actively support efforts to resolve disputes nonviolently and to promote equity and justice in one’s society and throughout the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” We know, though, that it doesn’t bend of its own accord. It bends because people care and take a stand for peace and justice.
If we are committed to building global peace in the Nuclear Age, we must say an absolute No to war, and we must demonstrate by our words and actions our commitment to peace. We must have confidence that our acts, though the acts of a single person, can and will make a difference. It is our challenge to awaken ourselves, to educate others and to consistently set an example for others by our daily lives. To be fully human is to put our shoulders to the arc of history so that it will bend more swiftly toward the justice and peace that we seek.
Issues of peace and war are far too important to be left only to political leaders. Most political leaders don’t know how to lead for peace. They are caught up in the war system and fear they will lose support if they oppose it. They need to be educated to be peace leaders. Strangely, most political leaders take their lead from the voters, so let’s lead them toward a world at peace. If you are an educator, educate for peace. If you are an artist, communicate for peace. If you are a professional, step outside the boundaries of your profession and act like the ordinary human miracle that you really are. If you are an ordinary human miracle, live with the dignity and purpose befitting the miracle of life and stand for peace.
Conclusions
In earlier periods, major wars threatened world peace. But in the post Second World War period terrorism, especially transnational terrorism poses a great threat to world peace. This is the situation in which people of many countries have to live under constant fear. Since terrorist attacks are in varied form, like suicide terrorism, transnational terrorism, car bombing, bombing of Aircrafts etc., there is less possibility of defending it. World peace is possible only if all the conflicts and issues are resolved. But this is only an illusionary concept since it is not possible to settle all the issues of the world. It does not mean that there is no possibility of peace. There are effective counter terrorist methods to bring peace in the world. In this direction, the major powers in the world have a crucial role. The declared policy of the US in the post 9/11 to combat terrorism through force already failed to tackle the issue. The US and other western powers should be ready to settle issues of national liberation movements.
If Palestine question is resolved it could tackle half of the terrorist issues in the world. Further, if the US is ready to withdraw its forces form the Middle East then the region will be free from terrorism. Similar types of positive attitude are essential to tackle terrorism. In this framework only handsome terrorist groups would persist without proper justification of their cause. Such groups in the normal case cannot survive if justice prevails in the world. An ideal world should be free from all occupations and dominations. But unfortunately, this situation is far from reality as the US and its allies are not ready for any compromise. So the world peace and world free from all forms of terrorism would be distant dream for the peace loving countries and people in the world.
References
1. Martha Crenshaw, “The Psychology of Terrorism: An Agenda for the 21st Century”, Political Psychology, Vol.21, No.2, June 2000, pp.405-420.
2. Walter Enders and Todd Sandler, “Transnational Terrorism in the Post-Cold War Era”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol.43, No.1, March1999, pp.145-167.
3. Jacob Shamir and Khalil Shikaki, “Self-Serving Perceptions of Terrorism among Israelis and Palestinians”, Political Psychology, Vol.23, No.3, September 2002, pp.537-557.
4. Howrd Zinn (ed.), Terror and War (New York: Seven Stores Press, 2002)
5. Martha Crenshaw, “The Causes of Terrorism”, Comparative Politics, Vol.13, No.4, July 1981, pp.379-399.
6. Lawrence Freedman et.al., Terrorism and International Order (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, !986)
7. Jeffrey D.Simon, “Misunderstanding Terrorism”, Foreign Policy, No.67, Summer 1987, pp.104-120.
8. Andrew Kydd and Barbar F.Walter, “Sabotaging the Peace: The Politics of Extremist Violence”, International Organisation, Vol.56, No.2, Spring 2002, pp.263-296.
* Dr. K.M.Sajad Ibrahim is a Faculty Member, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram- 695581
