THE Pahalgam attack on tourists led to a chain reaction, leading to the targeting of the bases of terrorist violence in Pakistan. As a ceasefire has been in place, it is time to mull over ways to deal with this cancerous phenomenon in society. Surely, the phenomenon of terror has been more in the news post-9/11 Twin Tower attacks in the United States, which caused the death of over 2,000 people. The term “Islamic terrorism” was coined by US media and picked up by the world, associating Islam with terrorism.
While acts of terror have been defined, defining terrorism is not easy, and no such definition could be articulated even by the UN bodies working on this. As far as India is concerned, it has been witnessing regular killings in Kashmir by the insane acts of brain-washed Muslim youth. India saw the 26/11, 2008, attack in Mumbai in which nearly 200 people lost their lives. Very interestingly, Hemant Karkare, the then Anti-Terrorism Squad chief of Maharashtra, was killed during this attack.
Parallel to this, we also witnessed the acts of terror beginning in Nanded (2006) and later four major places, Malegaon, Ajmer, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) and Samjhauta Express. For Malegaon related blast, NIA is demanding the death penalty for Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, former BJP member of Lok Sabha, whose motorcycle was the instrument used in Malegaon. Along with her, Lt Col Purohit is also being tried. Other names that came into the picture were those of Swami Aseemanand, Major (retd) Upadhyay, and many others who had affiliations to Hindutva politics.
As India faces these acts of terror, it is imperative that we give a serious thought to the root of the global terror phenomenon and its impact on India. While the security measures undertaken at the moment are being questioned as earlier Pulwama and now Pahalgam terror attacks have shown chinks in our armour, there are some deeper issues which India needs to collaborate with global agencies in eradicating some of these.
At one level, the terrorist groups that are affecting India have bases in Pakistan. The plight of Pakistan is pathetic as it is not only an agency of acts of terror; it is also the victim of this dastardly phenomenon. The present terror acts are taking place in Kashmir. The major actors involved in this tragedy in Kashmir are offshoots of terror groups, which came up in the aftermath of the American project of countering the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
As the US was in no position to take on the Russian army’s presence in Afghanistan, it promoted madrasas in Pakistan which gave training to Muslim youth; Taliban and its later clones were the result. Mahmood Mamdani, in his well-researched book, Good Muslim Bad Muslim, tells us how the syllabus of these madrasas was prepared in Washington. Communists were presented as kafirs (unbelievers) and killing them was propagated as the goal. Even if one loses life in achieving this goal, Jannat (paradise) is assured. America spent 8,000 million dollars on these madrasas and provided them with 7,000 tons of armaments, which included the latest stinger missiles.
The same phenomenon of terror, the promotion of which was the imperialist ambitions of America in controlling the oil wealth of West Asia, did assume dangerous proportions, creating havoc in the region. Just to remind it was this era when Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilisations’ thesis was ruling the roost. To the global good fortune, Kofi Annan, the then UN Secretary General, appointed a high-level committee to examine ‘Clash of Civilisation’ in particular.
This committee came out with a report “Alliance of Civilisations” which concluded that the world has progressed due to the alliance of civilisations. This report did not get projections from various quarters. The Islamophobia planted by the acts of terror and the negative role of American media was so intense that, at places, copies of the Holy Qur’an were burnt.
The terror phenomenon turned into Frankenstein’s monster. While it played its negative role at multiple levels, it turned into destruction recklessly, and Pakistan became a victim. One recalls that the ex-prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, was killed in one such attack by the terror groups. GTI (Global Terror Index) is a composite measure made up of four indicators: incidents, fatalities, injuries and hostages. To measure the impact of terrorism, a five-year weighted average is applied. In this, Pakistan is 2nd and India is 14th. It signifies that the acts of terror have tormented Pakistan much more than India.
No wonder that the victims of terrorism are more in Pakistan, as it is the madrasas in Pakistan where the training was given. While India has to ensure that no acts of terror take place in the country, there is also a need to understand that this cancer of terror sown by imperialist ambitions for control over oil can be eradicated by cooperation at a global level.
Pakistan, a country repeatedly labelled as the ‘global exporter of terror’, has been appointed to chair the United Nations Security Council’s Taliban Sanctions Committee in 2025. Simultaneously, it will serve as vice-chair of the Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee. Surely this tells a complex tale.
There are many factors controlling the policies of Pakistan, and the emerging angle of China is yet another of them. While Pakistan needs to be held accountable, there is also a need to ensure that it is brought to the discussion table to get rid of this scourge. To prevent terror attacks in India, all steps in promoting democracy in Kashmir are the need of the hour.
We are at present facing multiple dilemmas. The progress of Kashmir is static despite its vast potential. Pakistan needs to engage at multiple levels to ensure the eradication of the cancerous growth of terrorist violence. At a subtle level, there is a propaganda associating Islam, Muslims with the phenomenon of terror. This understanding lacks a deeper understanding of the peculiar circumstances in which the American designs to control West Asian oil resources have operated and led to the present impasse. Symptomatic countering of this dastardly phenomenon needs to be added to the deeper analysis of the global scenario, where dominant American policies have played a ruinous role in promoting this phenomenon and are now washing their hands off it.
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and a former professor at IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
