TERRORISM – DEFENCE AND SECURITY
News:
Pakistan Foreign Minister a promoter, spokesperson of terror industry:
Jaishankar
What's in the news?
● Calling
Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari a “promoter, justifier and
spokesperson” of terrorism, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hit out at
Islamabad for its continued support to terror groups.
Key takeaways:
● Speaking
at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization’s Council For Foreign Ministers (SCO-CFM) that he had chaired,
Mr. Jaishankar said Indians felt “outrage” over an incident, referring to the
firing in Rajouri in which five Indian soldiers were killed.
Terrorism:
● Terrorism
is an intentional use of indiscriminate
violence as a mechanism to create terror or fear in order to achieve a
political, religious, or ideological objective.
● Terrorism
is a form of asymmetric warfare. It is the use of violence against innocent
civilians or non-combatants.
● The
word terrorism has gained popularity following the attacks on the World Trade
Centers New York in September 2001 also referred to as the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.
Causes of Terrorism:
1. Political causes:
● The
main cause of terrorism is perceived socio-political
or historical injustice and a belief that violence will lead to change.
● People
who choose this path when they have been stripped off their land or rights are
denied the same.
● Examples
- Hamas group of Palestine, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Maoists
and the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)
2. Religious causes:
● Terrorist
groups use a specific religious ideology
to inspire people to join terrorist groups.
● For
example - ISIS and Al-Qaeda use Islamic ideology making people follow them.
3. Socio-economic causes:
● Many
people who join terrorist groups are illiterate
and poor.
● Terrorism
can spread like a virus in vulnerable
and marginalized communities. These people can easily be pursued by
terrorism groups.
● A
lack of employment and unequal growth encourages
unemployed youth to indulge in criminal acts and narcotics.
4. Intolerance:
● Because
of the increasing population and decreasing
resources, intolerance is growing in society.
● Increasing globalization
of society has come to transcend national boundaries spreading terrorism.
5. Governance:
● The
ineffective anti-terrorism legislation
and misplaced judicial activism are somehow also responsible for growing
terrorism.
6. Structural issues:
● There
are structural inadequacies in the state apparatus namely weaknesses in the intelligence structure - human as well as technical,
inadequate modernization of police paramilitary forces and the Armed Forces,
unimaginative media management and coverage, reactive response, and slow
government decision-making lack of clear strategy and policy on internal
security.
Why is India a victim of terror?
India
is suffering from ethno-nationalist, religious, left-wing, and narco-terrorism.
Some well-known examples of terrorist activities in India are Mumbai attacks of
26/11, 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, attack on Akshardham temple in 2002,
Mumbai train blasts 2006, Parliament attacks of 2001 attacks on Armed Forces
camps in Pathankot and Uri.
1. Location:
● India
is geographically located between Asia’s
two principal areas of illicit opium production - the Golden Crescent and
the Golden Triangle. This leads to a heavy influx of drugs and arms.
2. Pakistan and China:
● India
has a hostile neighbor in the form
of Pakistan with a land border of 3,400 kilometers. Pakistan sponsored state
terrorism and fundamentalist forces, particularly through its inter-services
intelligence, also known as ISI.
● Also,
India has unresolved border issues with China and China has active military and
nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.
3. Porous border:
● India
shares a contiguous and porous border
with smaller SAARC nations such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri
Lanka.
● Accompanying
problems such as illegal migration and
smuggling in the border belt and resulting social tensions create a
conducive environment for terrorism.
4. Sea border:
● India
has a long sea border of more than seven
thousand kilometers prone to pirating and smuggling. During the 26/11
Mumbai attacks, terrorists had used sea routes to enter the country.
In
the Indian context, the reasons over the past few years have been numerous. Our
consolidation as a secular, federal, and democratic state is still evolving and
the fundamentalist forces often exploit a diversity of our multi-ethnic and
multi-religious society.