What is Terrorism ?
- The terms “terrorist” and “terrorism” originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th century. Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government or its citizens to further certain political or social objectives. Law enforcement generally recognizes two types of terrorism: domestic and international.
Types of terrorism
- Domestic terrorism, involves groups or individuals whose terrorist activities are directed at elements of our government or population without foreign direction.
- International terrorism, involves groups or individuals whose terrorist activities are foreign-based and/or directed by countries or groups outside the United States or whose activities transcend national boundaries.
- State-Sponsored terrorism, which consists of terrorist acts on a state or government by a state or government.
- Dissent terrorism, which are terrorist groups which have rebelled against their government.
- Terrorists and the Left and Right, which are groups rooted in political ideology.
- Religious terrorism, which are terrorist groups which are extremely religiously motivated and
- Criminal Terrorism, which are terrorists acts used to aid in crime and criminal profit.
Roots of Terrorism
- Although various hypotheses about the causes of terrorism have been proposed, a number of important factors have been largely ignored. Geopolitics, especially rich-world attempts to control oil, help incite terrorist attacks on the rich by people from developing countries. But demographic and socioeconomic factors, especially poverty, inequality and large numbers of young men facing dim economic prospects, also are likely contributors to such terrorism. We show that those factors will not ameliorate soon without determined effort. Developed nations, particularly the United States, could help reduce terrorism by controlling over-consumption and increasing carefully targeted aid to developing nations. and The history of modern terrorism began with the French revolution and has evolved ever since. The most common causes or roots of terrorism include civilizations or culture clashes, globalization, religion, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. More personal or individual-based reasons for terrorism are frustration, deprivation, negative identity, narcissistic rage, and/or moral disengagement
- In recent years, with the emergence of new terrorist organizations like ISIS, Boko Haram etc. terrorism has become a competitive industry. Like mafia organizations, where one-upmanship is often based on who has the most guns, money or local power, terrorist groups too have a pecking order.The war with terrorism may be difficult, but society should put maximum value on human rights, even though it means destroying anti-terrorism policy. In terrorist attacks, terrorist attacks are afraid of undergoing another attack, so they give prejudice and discrimination against similar nationality or religious beliefs
Not a ‘fight for Islam’
- The War on Terror built by world leaders is a “fight for Islam” is equally false.
- According to the Global Terrorism Database, of the 81 terror attacks in which more than 100 were killed (high casualty) since 2001, more than 70 were carried out in Islamic or Muslim-majority countries.
- In a specific search of high casualty terror attacks on religious institutions since 2001, 18 of the top 20 were by Islamist groups on mosques.
- The War on Terror thus appears to be a concept peddled mostly by pan-Islamist groups and propagated most often by extremists of other religions as a motive for terror attacks, such as the 2011 Utoya island attack in Norway or the New Zealand attacks.
- Governments in countries affected by terrorism must not subscribe to this narrative blindly.
The Effects of Terrorism
- The deadliest terrorist attack in human history is the 9/11 attack that took the lives of more than 3,000 people, destroyed the World Trade Center complex, and brought a lot of damage besides that (Jenkins). Terrorism itself means violence that is regularly used to create an atmosphere of fear in society and thus achieve a specific political goal. Terrorist attacks are conducted by political structures, religious and nationalistic groups, revolutionists, and sometimes by state establishments such as police, army, or intelligence services (Jenkins). Due to its scale, consequences, intensity, destroying power, brutality, and cruelty, terrorism is one of the biggest problems today. Moreover, terrorist activities include exploding bombs, hijacking, and weapons of mass destruction, kidnappings, hostage takings, executions, injuries, destruction, and suicide bombings. Extinguishing terrorism is a serious issue which requires thorough and versatile investigation because of its massive impact on state and society. Indeed, terrorist activities have economic, political and psychological effects.Terrorist acts confronted by a state cannot be eliminated by the affected States alone because of the international linkage of the terrorist groups. It is, therefore, clear that all the nations must form a common front to fight terrorism. If the much needed spirit of international cooperation in the required degree is not properly established, the world would become a dangerous place to live. It is for this reason that one nation’s peace and security will be determined by the success of all nations’ response to any kind of terrorism particularly for international terrorism
Some majorTerrorist Groups
- In 2015 four groups were responsible for 74 per cent ofall deaths from terrorism: ISIL, Boko Haram, the Talibanand al-Qa’ida.
- ISIL surpassed Boko Haram as the deadliest terroristgroup in 2015. ISIL undertook attacks in 252 different citiesin 2015 and was responsible for 6,141 deaths in the year.
- Boko Haram had an 18 per cent reduction in the numberof people it killed in 2015, responsible for 5,478 deathsduring the year.
- Al-Qa’ida had a 17 per cent reduction in the number ofpeople it killed in 2015, responsible for 1,620 deaths inthe year.
- The Taliban in Afghanistan had a 29 per cent increasein the number of people it killed in 2015, responsible for4,502 deaths from terrorism during the year.
- Terrorists do not belong to any religion or faith or community. Terrorism is an attack on democracy and the civilized society by a violent few who resort to targeted killing of innocent citizens in pursuit of their evil designs. In some respects, terrorism is more damaging than an act of war against the nation because terror acts often target innocent civilians
