TERRORISM

Meaning: The term ‘terrorism’ and terrorist are used very frequently in
the present day world. The origin can be traced to the French revolution (1793–1794)
identified as the reign of terror. Encyclopedia of Social Sciences published in 1930
defined terrorism as the method (or the theory behind the method) which an
organized group or party sought to achieve its avowed aims chiefly through the
systematic use of violence. The central point is that terrorism is an act which uses
violence to achieve its ends and is characterized by certain forms of actions such as
assassinations, bombing, taking people as hostages, and hijacking of planes. The
striking feature is the globalization of terrorism. Most of the countries in the world
suffer from terrorist onslaughts but the new epicenter of terror since the 9/11 tragedy
is the Al Qaeda and the name associated with that is Osama Bin Laden. The situation
is aggravated by worldwide improvement in telecommunications, transportation and
technology which have helped to heighten the links between terrorist outfits in some
way, connected with each other either through finances, training or common enemy,
committing terrorist acts assuming transnational character.
Terrorism is a well thought out strategy, in which the terrorists make use of
violence to create fear and terror among the people. The terrorist groups may or may
not have a specific goal. Their goal may be quite vague at times. But its approach is
far from humanitarian. Terrorists can kill any number of people, and destroy any
amount of property, just to spread fear and terror. Nobility of means is not their
concern. Terrorism believes in publicity. They seek to make themselves known as
widely as possible by their acts of terror.

Types:
Terrorism can be broadly classified into Local, Cross Border and International
terrorism based on the area they covered;
Terrorism that originates within one country and operates only there (Maoists in
Nepal, Peoples War Group in India) are Local Terrorism.
Terrorism that has its roots in one country and operates with the support of the
country of its origin, but uses violence to create terror in another country are known
as Cross-Border terrorism (for eg. HAMAS who organized terrorist acts against Israel
are perpetrated from across its borders.)
International terrorism has often been described as warfare without territory, waged
without armies. It is warfare that is not limited territorially; sporadic battles may take
place worldwide. It is warfare without neutrals, and with few or no civilian bystanders.
Al Qaeda, Mujahideen, ANC etc
In addition to this, Narco – terrorism is another type of terrorism which
involves smuggling of narcotics for financing the organizations and operation of
terrorist groups in various parts of the world. Earlier narco – terrorism was identified
as activities or methods used by drug mafia to carry out assault on anti- narcotics
agencies or forces which roughly used the tactics of terrorist organizations. But the
present world scenario reveals that more and more terrorist organizations are using
narcotics trafficking for the purpose of gaining revenue and for this they are
developing partnership with transnational drug cartels, mafia or other organizations.
(The Talibans even collected money from drug trafficking to facilitate their resurgence
in Afghanistan)

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 Cyber – Terrorism is a result of improvement in technologies and
telecommunications system which has changed the face of terrorism gradually.
Attacks by terrorists are not confined to the real world only, for they have made
inroads into the virtual world too. Security risks emanating from disruption of working
of computer systems, networks, and internet with an objective to cause harm,
threaten or chose the target audience / group, individual or a particular government
tantamount to cyber terrorism.

LIBERALS, CONSERVATIVES AND REALISTS ON ‘TERRORISM.’

There are two main streams of thinking on the causes and remedies for
terrorism; Liberal and conservative. To these may be added the third, The Realist
approach.
Liberals feel that terrorism is a response to economic, social and political
deprivation as well as bad government. People who have a sense of grievance will
turn to violence to dramatize their misery or to change the conditioned that are
responsible for it. Since, in modern times the governments are generally held
responsible for miseries of the people. it is against them that the rebellions are usually
directed. Governments may often become targets of terrorist attacks.
Conservatives on the other hand, attribute terrorism to the natural stresses and
strains of nation-building. New systems of laws and institutions backed by a
government often frighten some people. Classes, castes, religious and linguistic
groups- all may find difficult to adjust under a new government and a new laws. The
state tries to enforce its laws. Various groups may resent these attempts. The state
may use force to check violence by resistant groups. A cycle of violence and counter-
violence may then begin.
Realists see terrorism as arising out of competition between nation-states. States
normally settle their disputes through the threat, or actual use of force. Realists
consider terrorism as a consequence of competition among nation-states for
increasing their powers. Realists, being total believers of power, attribute terrorism to
the struggle for power.
In view of their different perspective s of terrorism, liberals, conservatives and the
realists naturally have different responses to the curse. For the Liberals, The way out
of terrorism is to improve the lot of the people, including those who might be seeking
secession and to provide better governance. The conservatives, on the other hand feel
that good governance is, in any case, the responsibility of every state. Conservatives
argue that a responsible government must use violence to end terrorist violence. For
conservatives, force is a reality and it should not be used as a last resort. The state
should use violence as quickly and as firmly as possible.
The prescription suggested by the realists is closer to the views of the
conservatives. The realists say that in the international system that operates in the
contemporary world, there is only one way of defending a state, and that is the use of
force against the rivals, whether groups of terrorists or a state that threatens. The
governments are fully justified in using force to stop the terrorists from harming one’s
interests. Realists argue that no amount of economic development and good
governance will prevent a rival state from instigating and sustaining violence. Only the
threat or actual use of counter-violence can effectively defeat terrorism.

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 MOTIVES OF TERRORIST GROUPS

Terrorism is a tactic of the powerless against the powerful. Terrorist groups are
difficult to identify because their motives, tactics and membership differ widely.
Motives of terrorism are many and varied, Religious fanaticism was responsible for
nearly 20 percent of international terrorist incidents, religion sometimes rationalize the
terrorist activities, as, for example, was the case with the erstwhile separatist groups
who were seeking an independent Khalistan. The HAMAS tried to destabilize Israel in
the name of religion.
In the Industrialized countries, terrorism often occurs where discrepancies in
income are severe, and where minority groups feel deprived of the political freedom
and rights. Some terrorist groups are also motivated by their separatist tendency; they
are looking for a sovereign statehood from the so-called oppression or at least a
separate autonomy. LTTE of Sri Lanka and Basque of Spain are an example of
terrorist groups motivated by separatist tendency. Reference must also be made to
hateful and vengeful terrorism as symbolized by the dreaded Al Qaeda outfit headed
by Osama Bin Laden. His organization originally designed to help the Pakistan-trained
Taliban fanatics in Afghanistan, turned its fire against the US and its friends. The latter
are perceived to be killers of Muslims and thus deserving punishment of being killed.

METHODS OF TERRORISTS

1) Violence is the principal means of all terrorist groups. This assumes different
manifestations, and different groups use different manifestations. The terrorist
methods have gradually evolved from primitive means to the most modern
sophisticated weapons and even killer gases. In the past, terrorists merely tried to
seek publicity. Bombs were thrown only to attract attention, with the clear aim of not
killing the innocent people.
The 20th century brought about revolutionary changes in the techniques and use of
terrorism. In some cases indiscriminate firing is resorted to, in crowded places like
markets or places of worship. Many innocent civilians were often killed with this
dreadful method.
Use of bomb has now become an important weapon of terrorism. Use of car
bomb simply attracted the publicity desired by the terrorists. Serial bomb blasts killed
hundreds of innocent people and many times more wounded. Serial bombing was
indeed an inhuman act of terror.
Killing of an individual target is another method of the terrorists. The
assassination of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt for having agreed to the peace
process with Israel at the Camp David summit of 1978.Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 or of Sri
Lankan president Premadasa were some of the many examples of individual killings.
Hijacking of aircrafts to make demands that cannot be easily met is a new
method of the terrorists. It causes mental torture of the hostages. Sometimes
individual passengers are killed, as was in the case of Indian Airlines flight from
Katmandu that was hijacked in 1999.Much earlier an Indian plane was hijacked, taken
to Lahore, where it was blown off after the passengers were disembarked. Hijacking
of aircraft win different parts of the world is a very inhuman terrorist activity. A new
method once again that is use of hijacked aircrafts to kill thousands of people on

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ground and destroy property worth billions of dollars became a new technique when
WTC in New York, and part of Pentagon building in Washington DC were attacked by
the American planes hijacked allegedly by Al Qaeda terrorists This incident of 11
September 2001 was most gruesome. as it resulted in the destruction of life and
property.
Highly motivated terrorists have adopted a unique method of eliminating their
target by killing themselves in the attack. Terrorists have formed suicide squads,
and they destroy themselves while eliminating the target. This technique of suicide
killing had been repeated several times since the killing of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 both
in India and abroad. It is very difficult to get ready to meet the action as there is no
prediction of the ambition of the terrorists.

2). Psychological impact and fear: The terrorist aim at breaking the morale of the
people by raising insecurity in their minds. With the severity of the attacks the terrorist
try to create massive psychological impact and fear in the minds of the people. The
objective is to shock and awe large audiences with acts of terror. Terrorist also attack
national symbols to show their power and to shake the foundation of the society or
country they are opposed to. This may sometimes negatively affect a government’s
legitimacy, while increasing the legitimacy of the given terrorist organization and or
ideology behind a terrorist attack. The attack on WTC was a direct assault to American
national pride.
3) Perpetration for a political goal: Most often terrorist attacks have as their goal,
the achievement of a political purpose. Terrorism then becomes a political tactic. The
perpetration of terrorist acts is often directed in giving shocks to the government so
that the government succumbs under its pressure.
4) Deliberate targeting of non combatants: Generally the terrorists aim soft
targets like civilians. Most of the time, the victims of the terrorism are targeted not
because they are threats, but because their suffering accomplishes the terrorist’s goals
of instilling fear, sending a message out to the world, to the specific government,
specific community or just trying to accomplish their political ends directly.
5) Use of disguise: Terrorists almost invariably pretend to be non- combatants, hide
among the non – combatants, fight from in the midst of non – combatants. This was
seen during the Mumbai siege of 26/11/2008
6) Unlawfulness or illegitimacy: Though some official definition tries to
characterize terrorist activities on the basis of illegitimacy or unlawfulness, there is an
inherent difficulty in this. The use of the criteria on terrorism becomes problematic
when one considers the cases of state – sponsored terrorism.

GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

International terrorism happens to be one of the most major problems currently

being faced by the international community. It has been posing a serious threat to the
security of all states and particularly to the international peace and security. The
growing incidence of terrorist violence has, over the years, engaged the attention of
the entire global community. But the fight against terrorism cannot be made much
effective because of many obstacles. When the United States experienced a massive
onslaught on its mainland in September 2001.That shook the conscience of the world,

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as it proceeded to put together an international coalition to eliminate international
terrorism. The Bush administration has adopted a very tough line against international
terrorism, and put together a coalition to liquidate terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations. But its remarkable success in clearing Afghanistan, in just two months,
of Al Qaeda and the Talibans, did not complete the task. Neither the declared enemy
of the US-Osama Bin Laden-could be apprehended, nor apparently eliminated. Not
only this, the evil has continued to haunt several countries.
India being the victim of terrorist activities also takes steps to curb terrorism in
different ways. In her fight against terrorism, India has received promise of full
support in its against terrorism by several countries, including Britain, Russia, France,
Vietnam and many more both before and after 11 September. Israel, a victim of
terrorism, however is willing to be a part of coalition to fight the menace; including
terrorism in India. Hence the threat to humanity posed by terrorism is now a concern
of almost all parts of the globe. The ASEAN came forward late in 2002 to issue a
declaration to under line its commitment to fight this menace. The ASEAN efforts were
fully supported by China, Japan and South Korea. India indeed welcomes this
commitment.
The United Nations has been seriously concerned with the spread of International
terrorism. The determination of the UN to defeat this evil was expressed in the
Security Council Resolution No. 1373 adopted in the wake of the attack on the World
Trade Centre in September 2001.The Resolution had called upon the International
community to fight this scourge through international cooperation through political,
diplomatic, financial and other means. Meanwhile, as many as 12 conventions have
been authorized by the UN General Assembly to the humankind to unite and fight the
curse. However, the General Assembly was conscious of the fact that in the process of
fighting terrorism, human rights violation must not be allowed to take place, though at
times the reconciliation between the two may be a difficult problem.