Tackling international terrorism

Terrorism in general and religion-based terrorism in particular is on ascendency. The latter has graduated from jihad for establishment of sharia in place of recognized democratic arrangement not only in Islamic countries but also in several places including France, Germany, Holland and UK.
9/11, 26/11, and massacres in Spain, Yemen, Tunisia, Indonesia, Afghanistan and so many other countries of the world are the living examples of how the barbarism of religious extremist terror has gripped the world. The quintessential point is whether the world has to live in modern age with science and technology, reason and justice governing human society or whether it is return to barbarism and cannibalism from which we have come away in the course of millennia of human history.
India has become the early target of jihadi terrorism. Kashmir is only a pretext. The jihadis are unhappy with democratic, secular and egalitarian dispensation of India for all of its citizens irrespective of their religion or set.  We have seen that in Kashmir thousands of moderates have been killed in cold blood because they would not want to succumb to pernicious orthodoxy. How many more will meet with their ignominious death is anybody’s guess. This is all because the people have enjoyed the good results of democratic dispensation and they would not like to forsake it for rabid fanaticism.
With terrorism reaching its crescendo in Iraq and Syrian Caliphate propaganda, terrorism of salafis and wahhabis is in naked dance. Christians, Yizidis, Shias and non conformists one and all are liquidated by the ISSI Caliphate in making and they are now stretching their arms and trying to reach far off lands east and west. This poses a serious challenge to the world community. It is a fact that in the initial stages when India approached world community to consider the threat to modern societies with all seriousness, they just turned their heads away saying it was India’s Kashmir fight. But then the world community including the UN have begun to realise that the contention of India did not remain restricted to Kashmir or Pakistan only. World community is now fully conscious of the far reaching danger and they are galvanized into counter terrorism activity.
It is in this background that India once again took the initiative and recently called an international conference called Integrated Approach to Counter-Terrorism, in which top ranking delegates and senior officials of more than 17 countries participated including France, USA and Canada. This was a unique and historical conference not only for the reason that top echelons of army, intelligence, police, academics and others participated but more so because the variety of themes that were discussed and the presentations that were made were simply mind boggling. Very subtle and hitherto unknown aspects of terrorism and jihadism were unravelled that made academics re- assess their pronouncements. For instance it was something rare to listen to General Fonseka of Sri Lanka, the soldier credited with decimation of the LTTE, which he called the deadliest terrorist organization of the world. One could never know the extraordinary strategy, tactics, manoeuvring and operative skill that went into the fight against this terrorist organization. Not only General Fonseka, there were others also who outright rejected any policy of negotiations with the terrorists as futile and very strongly recommended military action of scotch-earth tactics if the world was to be delivered from this scourge. Likewise the highly incisive analysis of Afghan crisis made by the former Afghan Chief of Intelligence Amrullah Sale exploded many myths about American intervention in Afghanistan. In particular he highlighted the point that on the one hand the US was fighting the Afghan Taliban and on the other hand it was providing all assistance to Pakistan, a country that was channelizing the American aid to disrupt peace in Afghanistan.
The proceedings of the conference will be rarest of rare documentation on the activities and reach of terrorists in different parts of the world. The conference decided to send the final edited copies of the proceedings to the Indian Government and to the Governments of other countries in the world as an eye opener of where the malaise lies. This document will certainly give a new turn to the entire narrative of terrorism in contemporary times.
By and large the conference converged on the important conclusion that there should be a global comprehensive approach to counter terrorism and that all countries that are peace loving and want democracy to succeed should come together on the bidding of India and draw the framework of global resistance to terrorism. World community will have to shun their ambivalence about terrorism and come out with a strong determination and tactical programme of countering the menace.
As far as Kashmir issue is concerned, Pakistan as the mother of international terror and jihadism was discussed in one full session. In this context Kashmir also figured and it was the general and considered opinion of all the delegates that Kashmir was the extension of jihadi and terrorist movement sponsored in Pakistan and it in no way could be considered a freedom movement. The fact that the Indian Security Chief delivered the keynote address and the Home Minister inaugurated the conference lends it the validity and credence of Indians seriousness about the subject.

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