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Emporium Current EssaysAt the United Nations conference on the 'Prevention of Crime' held in Cairo, April-May1995 speakers declared that international crime "threatens to undermine the foundationsof all states," and "... terrorism has become one of the most dangerous forms of international crime.'* No one is likely to quibble over the definition of a criminal actsince it is one that breaches the law, but there is n«o single definition of terrorism thatholds true in all circumstances around the world. One man's struggle for freedom can beconsidered terrorism by another. There are many sources of terrorist activity: stateterrorism was institutionalised in the Latin American states during the late 1960s and1970s when military juntas sought to suppress political movements in the region.Uruguay had the world's highest per capita population of political prisoners in those days.According to America's Watch, 1 out of every 50 Uruguayans w as detained and \ out of every 500 w as jailed, most were routinely tortured, in Argentina,, President Alfonsin(19H9), the first civilian to complete his term in office since1928, was blamed for a excusing \all but top officers from prosecution on such chargesand even promoted accused tortures. In Egypt, the government is reported to beconcerned about the potential of the Muslim brotherhood for emerging as a legitimate political force, just as the F1S did in Algeria in 1991. Key figures in the MB, professionals with money, respected and well liked were detained and presented in courtin iron eases prior to the election in1995 because reports and forecasts predicted they would do better than the governmentwanted them to in the national elections.State terrorism can, and doe.s, extend across national boundaries. Organisations that aresponsored .by foreign governments tend to have a momentum of their own and can slipout of the control of the original organiser: this is what happened with the LTTEseparatists of Sri Lanka, originally trained and equipped by Indian agencies, whicheventually blew up Mr. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, with a human bomb. The LTTE now operates on its own and has a publicity and propaganda wing, business enterprises, a fund-raising wing and a well-organised armsV56Emporium Current EssaysEmporium Current Essays57 procurement organisation. There are many similar militant groups around the world thatare now out of the control of their original organisers.
 
Many tactics employed by political organisations may be used by the state itself to runso-called cover operations. The irresponsible retired head of a sensitive agency declared before a gathering of intellectuals and diplomats that "... I can activate 14 separatistorganisations in 'x country' within 24 hours..." In Panama it turned out that the notoriousPresident Noriega was a CIA agent in his previous life and last time something about himappeared in the American Press he was being prosecuted in the United States on chargesof drug smuggling, among other things. The Golden Triangle states of the Far East arewell-knows for the easy going relationship between their Saw enforcement organisationsand the semi-political warlords who smuggle drugs to finance their operations. It has been a standard practice in countries »f South Asia, for decades, to recruit criminalserving life terms as assassins. As soon as the deed is done they are safely back in prisonand there is no chance they will talk. Naturally the perpetrators of criminal acts andterrorism are never found. Whenever there is an incident and 'no clue' is found thoughtsturn towards such standard operating procedures.Private individuals and political organisations can be responsible for terrorism that either seeks the destruction of a specific target or merely to cause chaos and random violencethereby undermining the writ of the government. The objective is to being about achange. Serious organisations with,long-term political objectives never permit the general public to become the target of their violent acts. They choose specific persons or groupsthat represent what the organisation wishes to replace. Peaceful means for thereplacement of such individuals or groups, or for bringing about social and politicalchange may be denied by the state or other forces within the country< hence resource toviolence. For example attacks by Islamic militants on tourists in Egypt focus on thetourism industry which is considered representative of the prostitution of culture andvalues for the pleasure of Westerners.The same organisations have militant, political and welfare wings that provide succour tothe general public and thus win their support. In Palestine, Hamas has a political, awelfare and a militant wing. Acts of violence have a purpose. Since negotiation on political issues is ruled out such organisations seek to make it clear that no one, not theleadership or the general public that elects or supports such a leadership, will live in a peace until there is a settlement of some sort. The LTTE in Sri Lanka wanted to make it clear to the international communitythat the government's claims, subsequent to the recapture of Jaffna, about the restorationof peace in Sri Lanka were not correct. LTTE guerrillas blew up the Central Bank, thedocks and, recently a commuter train to make their presence felt after the fall of Jaffna.The LTTE does not seek the support of the general Sinhalese public. Its constituency isthe Tamils of the world and is, therefore, unconcerned about the loss of life in such cases.Another illustration of a difference in perception of what may be considered terrorism isfound in Serbrenica. In July 1995 Mladic, now a war criminal sought by the War CrimesTribunal setup by the International Court oT Justice, said that his army's , onslaughtagainst the enclave was undertaken to 'neutralise' what he called 'terrorist' there. He wasreferring to Gen. Oric who was regarded by the Bosnian Muslims as>a kind of Robin
 
Hood who kept the enclave fed and defended when the UN and the word community held back.There is a great deal of difference between the origin and purpose of violent, terroristattacks that were perpetrated by militant groups in the hue 1960s and 1970s in Europe,the terror that was seen in Latin America and the present waves of terrorism that aresweeping across the world today. Revelations made during the 1990s by responsible personnel, now retired, of intelligence agencies of many countries and institutionsindicate that leftist university groups in the west were penetrated by their operatives andactually trained to achieve the objectives of certain states. Their purpose was stated to beto seek a reaction, shake states. Another • objective was to use these organisations as a cover to eliminate those political elementsthat were considered a threat to European security by NATO. New information hasemerged about the Baader Meinhoff gang and the Red Brigade. There are shadowy links between many semi-political extremist organisations and governments. Many suchorganisations may originally have been sponsored by agencies in the countries in whichthey exist, neighbouring or third countries. An extremely interesting episode was thekidnapping of a USIS officer by some Palestinians when the PLO and other extremistgroups were apparently abhorred by the US. Actually he was under the protection of Mr.George Habash with whom he had studied in Beirut but some renegades in the movementlifted him. While US officials went crazy looking for him, his wife finally managed to getword to Habash who had himV58Emporium Current EssaysEmporium Current Essays59released -- he was being hold in garage a few houses away from his home and was perfectly well. He walked over to his home.There has always been a differentiation between freedom movements and terroristactivity in discussion at the United Nations but the acceptance of dialogue with the PLOwas a watershed in the relations between militant organisations and governments. Thisacceptance also meant that elements that were unwilling to compromise oncertain issues would have to intensify their activities. Two categories emerged:organisations that government may negotiate with and those that governmentswere unwilling to acknowledge. The activities of such organisations have becomeincreasingly sophisticated. Business activities span the legitimate and the illegal,including investment in business enterprises s well as the smuggling of arrm and drugsacross national boundaries. This is done with the co-operation of governments inindustrialised countries that tend to look the other nay when their people are making afast buck.
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