Dr Sudershan Kumar
The modern era is enshrouded by the race between the countries around the globe in developing technologies for sustainable development and also for betterment of society. But ironically, the same technologies are at risk to fall into the hands of mischievous militant outfits for enhancing their striking capabilities with an aim to cause devastation and chaos. The recent Hamas attack at Israel is a glaring example of the impending threat. On the unfortunate day of October 7, 2023, the para military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the (PFLP) and the DFLP launched a series of coordinated armed incursions into Gaza envelope of neighbouring Israeli territory. These attacks began in the wee hours of morning with rocket barrage of around 3000 rockets launched against Israel and vehicle transported and powered para gliders incursions into its territory which resulted into 1139 deaths (695 civilians, 71 foreign nationals and 373 members of security forces). Around 255 foreign nationals and soldiers were taken into custody. This was one of the deadliest attack of the century which took Israeli security forces with surprise. The might of Israel was challenged and they even dodged the Iron Dome, the most advanced mobile all weather air defence systems deployed by Israeli Defence Forces. Hamas attack was retaliated by Israeli defence forces (IDF) with full zeal, conviction and with full force to the extent that they not only decimated their terror network but also eliminated top commanders. As a fall out of this conflict ,Houthi militants have started attacking Merchant ships in the gulf of Aden in the Arabian sea. The attack on British Oil tanker, M.V.Marlin Launda by guided Missiles is the latest add on to the conflict. All the series of incidents reminisces us of the terror attacks conducted by Al-Qaeda on 9th September, 2001 commonly known as 9/11 attacks. On that fateful morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airlines. These then crashed two planes into twin tower building of WTO in New York city. Third team succeeded in striking pentagon the head quarter of US department of Defence while the fourth plane was went down in Pennsylvania. These attacks killed nearly 2750 people in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Pennsylvania and instigated multi decade global war on terror.
Besides, there have been numerous terror attacks around the globe in which state actors, non state actors and state actors in collusion with non state actors are involved. What is most evident in recent decade is that, terrorism has undergone a paradigm shift in its modalities of orchestration. There is hardly any nation that has remained untouched from this dreaded evil. In south Asia, India’s Union territory Jammu Kashmir has been facing the brunt of this for the last three decades but a new face in new disguise is emerging. The modus operandi has changed. Our rogue neighbour Pakistan’s Military Junta, ISI and Deep state are clandestinely involved in creating terror among the masses, targeting certain communities, army paramilitary and police forces etc. So it becomes indispensable to understand the term terrorism. International law provides no clear definition for the term terrorism more so in Pakistan’s perspective. It has political and ideological connotations. One man’s terrorist is another’ s freedom fighter. Despite attempts of the United Nations, states have not agreed upon a definition of terrorism. None the less we will keep in mind the definition proposed by United Nation. The United Nation security council, with resolution 1566 of October,2004 elaborates this definition as stating that terrorists acts are criminal acts to cause death or serious injuries to the body or taking hostages with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in general public or in a group of persons, a particular person or intimidate purposefully or compel a Government or international organization to do so from any act. The origin of terrorism in Pakistan is from fanaticism, fundamentalism and radicalization.
Radicalization basically is the action or process of making anyone very extreme or radical in their opinion on social, political and religious issues. The radicalization is first step to produce terrorists. This can be explained in the form of a pyramid like structure wherein, on the top there are active terrorists, in middle there are religious and political organizations and at the bottom lie missionary Islamic organizations, which mesmerize the young innocent tender minds. The link between the three stages creates a congenial environment, which leads to extremism. The input for this pyramid is from illegal Madrassas and other fundamentalist and fanatic organizations. As per the reports available there are nearly 12000 – 40000 Madrassas in Pakistan. Many are run illegally by hardliners. There are nearly 239 religious and terror organizations in Pakistan. This reflects the Pakistani society’s amalgamation with radicalization to a greater extent. Even Pak army was also radicalized during General Zia-ul-Haq’s time because of his Islamic policies. These Islamic policies in army emerged as a breed of military thinkers and strategists who propounded merger of social Jihadism with Military plans. The doctrine of Pak army led to the creation of Non state armed surrogates. The various terror organizations were emerged out of these surrogates and started flourishing under the thumb of Pak army and ISI. These terror organizations were being used by Pak army as an extended arm for fulfillment of its goals against the neighbouring countries especially India. But with the advent of technological era, social media and various un authorized websites including Dark Web have provided extra teeth for propagation of radicalization fundamentalism and fanaticism among the young educated and professional class among the Pak society and else where. This class has taken the role of acting as a conduit between terrorist and masses. They mingle with society and extract sensitive information, which they pass on to the terrorists through overground workers. They are proving more dangerous than terrorists.Thus the Pakistan has turned into a terror factory, where terror organizations are groomed and patronized by Pak army and ISI. Even United state sponsors list described Pakistan as “Terror Heaven”. Gen. Musharraf openly admitted that religious militancy was started in Pakistan which brought militants from all over the world to fight Soviet forces. In July2019 the former Prime Minister Imran Khan during one of the official visits to the USA, publicly admitted that nearly 30,000 to 40,000 terrorists are operating in Pakistan. Besides India, it is also extending support an outfit Jaish-al-Adl for creating trouble in Iran. This was quite evident from recent attack by Iranian forces at Koh-e-sabz a location 50 Km deep inside Pak Iran border with drones and missiles.
Pak army subsequently retaliated using killer drones,loitering ammunition and missiles fired from distance from an aircraft near the town of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran. Concerning India, the nefarious design of Pak army, ISI and Deep State in Union Territory of Jammu-Kashmir were throttled by the mighty Indian army and other security agencies and also dealt the situation with Iron hand. But the singular and soft approach with appeasement policies adopted by previous regimes in handling separatism and terrorism in UT of Jammu-Kashmir had only emboldened militant outfits and their sympathizers. As a result the target killings and attacks on security forces were very common in the past. They were able to create Psychological fear among the masses in Kashmir valley.Therefore stone pelting, glorifying terrorists using social media and inflammatory speeches were very common in the past. It is pertinent to mention here that the winds changed after abrogation of Article 370 on 5th June, 2019 and also the bifurcation of erstwhile state into two new Union territories viz Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. The UT of J&K is now ushering into the era of development, peace and tranquility barring stray incidents here and there.
Many infrastructure projects have also come up. As a result, in the last year, nearly 22 million tourists visited UT of Jammu-Kashmir. Parallelly,as per the need of hour both authorities at centre and in UT of J-K are dealing with terrorists with heavy hand through multi prong approach. This include identifying terror hubs, freezing their accounts, attaching their properties and putting nail into narco terrorism. As a result of these efforts, the militant related incidents have been minimized. Blasts, firings, stone pelting and hartals have become the things of past. They have been replaced by education industry and infra. This has rattled Pakistan and its Deep state. Therefore Pak army and its ISI is desperate to create unrest and to keep the pot boiling in UT of Jammu-Kashmir. But the strong commitment of the present dispensation both at Centre and at UT of Jammu-Kashmir has not only wiped out militancy from UT but also created the environment of peace and tranquility. Author would also like to draw the attention here that the easy availability of ultra modern technologies such as internet based webs, Artificial Intelligence, Satellite phones for communication and Ultramodern warfare for deep penetration and precision in striking targets has not only changed the dynamic of terrorism but also has posed many challenges to nations around the globe. Besides terrorism in various forms has also emerged. Notably among them are Cyber terrorism, Narco terrorism, Maritime terrorism, and chemical biological radiological and nuclear terrorism. To save the society from this dreaded evil, it is the collective responsibility of all world leaders to arrive at some consensus in handling and wiping out this dreaded evil from society. Failing which, it will engulf the whole society around the globe.
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