The spread of terrorism in the last few years has been pretty significant in the Indian context with new terrorist coalitions coming up expanding the canvas of counter terrorist activities for the security forces.
The terrorists have systematically silenced dissenting voices -- Vice-chancellors, judges, lawyers, teachers, journalists, priests, and families of security personnel are among those murdered. This terror campaign that runs across religious boundaries has resulted in the exodus of several hundred thousand civilians from the Kashmir valley. Many, never to return again and claim property they legally own. Once prosperous areas, the border regions now have struggling economies. Development aid is necessary to restore normalcy and bring hope to the people.
There have been numerous reports with regard to the head count of Naxalites operating along the so-called Red Corridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh, which peak at 20,000 as per some vague estimates of Reuters. Does that really matter? Is it relevant in terms of applying counters? In my opinion, the number games, be it the so called Jihadis operating in Jammu and Kashmir or the Maoists in Nepal or the Naxalites in the terrorist affected States of India is just a statistical output for projecting or perhaps justifying an idea. The controlled flow of terrorists through well designed mechanisms from across, ensures the credible numbers remain a threat in being and whether it is a small number or a large presence, the terrorists strike at a target of the choosing.
There is no denying the fact that Islamic terrorism in India is a bye-product of the US-inspired and orchestrated jehad of the 1980s against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. To make the Soviet troops bleed, the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) encouraged Islamic fanaticism and incited unemployed Muslim youth all over the world to go to Afghanistan to carry on a jehad against Communism. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was entrusted by the CIA with the task of religiously motivating, training and arming the jehadi mercenaries from different countries and sending them into Afghanistan for fighting against the Soviet troops.
On one hand, the Hindu minority has been persecuted in many countries in the world, and on the other hand, the Hindu majority has been targeted by terrorism in India, which is over 82% Hindu. Terrorism and insurgency are the unending battles India has been fighting since Independence.
Regional cooperation in the battle against terrorism has not been as successful in south Asia as it has been in the Southeast Asian region. This is largely because of Pakistan's policy of using terrorism as a weapon to keep the Indian security forces bleeding and pre-occupied with internal security duties and Bangladesh's tolerance of the activities of terrorists from its territory. Unless these two countries realize the folly of their policies and actions, which have made their own territories playgrounds for terrorist groups of different hues and irrationalities, there is very little scope for any meaningful co-operation.
India has fought four major wars over the problem of the disputed POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). Pakistan is unlikely to be able to win a conventional war against India. For this reason, Pakistan has allegedly resorted to sending terrorists into Kashmir, calling them freedom fighters. This holds true throughout the world: one side's terrorist is another side's freedom fighter. Globally, the impact of terrorism has been increasing since al-Qaeda formed alliances with existing terrorist organizations. The rise of tensions and the looming threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan have triggered a mass exodus of foreign nationals from India as well as Pakistan.
Is there a way out?
The terrorists have systematically silenced dissenting voices -- Vice-chancellors, judges, lawyers, teachers, journalists, priests, and families of security personnel are among those murdered. This terror campaign that runs across religious boundaries has resulted in the exodus of several hundred thousand civilians from the Kashmir valley. Many, never to return again and claim property they legally own. Once prosperous areas, the border regions now have struggling economies. Development aid is necessary to restore normalcy and bring hope to the people.
There have been numerous reports with regard to the head count of Naxalites operating along the so-called Red Corridor from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh, which peak at 20,000 as per some vague estimates of Reuters. Does that really matter? Is it relevant in terms of applying counters? In my opinion, the number games, be it the so called Jihadis operating in Jammu and Kashmir or the Maoists in Nepal or the Naxalites in the terrorist affected States of India is just a statistical output for projecting or perhaps justifying an idea. The controlled flow of terrorists through well designed mechanisms from across, ensures the credible numbers remain a threat in being and whether it is a small number or a large presence, the terrorists strike at a target of the choosing.
There is no denying the fact that Islamic terrorism in India is a bye-product of the US-inspired and orchestrated jehad of the 1980s against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. To make the Soviet troops bleed, the USA's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) encouraged Islamic fanaticism and incited unemployed Muslim youth all over the world to go to Afghanistan to carry on a jehad against Communism. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was entrusted by the CIA with the task of religiously motivating, training and arming the jehadi mercenaries from different countries and sending them into Afghanistan for fighting against the Soviet troops.
On one hand, the Hindu minority has been persecuted in many countries in the world, and on the other hand, the Hindu majority has been targeted by terrorism in India, which is over 82% Hindu. Terrorism and insurgency are the unending battles India has been fighting since Independence.
Regional cooperation in the battle against terrorism has not been as successful in south Asia as it has been in the Southeast Asian region. This is largely because of Pakistan's policy of using terrorism as a weapon to keep the Indian security forces bleeding and pre-occupied with internal security duties and Bangladesh's tolerance of the activities of terrorists from its territory. Unless these two countries realize the folly of their policies and actions, which have made their own territories playgrounds for terrorist groups of different hues and irrationalities, there is very little scope for any meaningful co-operation.
India has fought four major wars over the problem of the disputed POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir). Pakistan is unlikely to be able to win a conventional war against India. For this reason, Pakistan has allegedly resorted to sending terrorists into Kashmir, calling them freedom fighters. This holds true throughout the world: one side's terrorist is another side's freedom fighter. Globally, the impact of terrorism has been increasing since al-Qaeda formed alliances with existing terrorist organizations. The rise of tensions and the looming threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan have triggered a mass exodus of foreign nationals from India as well as Pakistan.
Is there a way out?
The writer is a journalist based at India and can be contacted at nit43@rediffmail.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vipin_Agnihotri 
No comments:
Post a Comment