By: SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
(This is a cross post from Times of India Mumbai).
''All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims.'' This comment , frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim specialty, if not a monopoly. The facts are very different. [ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE ARE NOT BAD PEOPLE, BUT ALL CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MOST DEATHS WORLWIDE CAUSED BY DROPPING THE BIGGEST BOMBS IN THEIR ARSENAL] First, there is nothing new about terrorism. In 1881, anarchists killed the Russian Tsar Alexander II and 21 bystanders. In 1901, anarchists killed US President McKinley as well as King Humbert I of Italy . World War I started in 1914 when anarchists killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria . These terrorist attacks were not Muslim.
Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons. Going by this definition, the British Raj referred to Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many other Indi an freedom fighters as terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh rather than Muslim.
Guerrilla fighters from Mao Zedong to Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro killed civilians during their revolutionary campaigns. They too were called terrorists until they triumphed. Nothing Muslim about them.
In Palestine , after World War II, Jewish groups (the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang) fought for the creation of a Jewish state, bombing hotels and installations and killing civilians. The British, who then governed Palestine , rightly called these Jewish groups terrorists. Many of these terrorists later became leaders of independent Israel - Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon. Ironically, these former terrorists then lambasted terrorism, applying this label only to Arabs fighting for the very same nationhood that the Jews had fought for earlier.
In Germany in 1968-92, the Baader-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens, including the head of Treuhand, the German privatisation agency. In Italy , the Red Brigades kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, former prime minister.
The Japanese Red Army was an Asian version of this. Japan was also the home of Aum Shinrikyo, a Bu dd hist cult that tried to kill thousands in the Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in 1995.
In Europe , the Irish Republican Army has been a Catholic terrorist organisation for almost a century. Spain and France face a terrorist challenge from ETA, the Basque terrorist organisation.
Africa is ravaged by so much civil war and internal strife that few people even bother to check which groups can be labelled terrorist. They stretch across the continent. Possibly the most notorious is the
Lord's Salvation Army in Uganda , a Christian outfit that uses children as warriors.
In Sri Lanka , the Tamil Tigers have long constituted one of the most vicious and formidable terrorist groups in the world. They were the first to train children as terrorists. They happen to be Hindus. Suicide bombing is widely associated with Muslim Palestinians and Iraqis, but the Tamil Tigers were the first to use this tactic on a large scale. One such suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
In Indi a , the militants in Kashmir are Muslim. But they are only one of several militant groups. The Punjab militants, led by Bhindranwale, were Sikhs. The United Liberation Front of Assam is a Hindu terrorist group that targets Muslims rather than the other way round. Tripura has witnessed the rise and fall of several terrorist groups, and so have Bodo strongholds in Assam . Christian Mizos mounted an insurrection for decades, and Christian Nagas are still heading militant groups.
But most important of all are the Maoist terrorist groups that now exist in no less than 150 out of Indi a 's 600 districts. They have attacked police stations, and killed and razed entire villages that oppose them. These are secular terrorists (like the Baader Meinhof Gang or Red Brigades). In terms of membership and area controlled, secular terrorists are far ahead of Muslim terrorists.
In sum, terrorism is certainly not a Muslim monopoly. There are or have been terrorist groups among Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and even Bu dd hists. Secular terrorists (anarchists, Maoists) have been the biggest killers.
Why then is there such a widespread impression that most or all terrorist groups are Muslim? I see two reasons. First, the Indi an elite keenly follows the western media, and the West feels under attack from Islamic groups. Catholic Irish terrorists have killed far more people in Britain than Muslims, yet the subway bombings in London and Madrid are what Europeans remember today. The Baader Meinhof Gang, IRA and Red Brigades no longer pose much of a threat, but after 9/11 Americans and Europeans fear that they could be hit anywhere anytime. So they focus attention on Islamic militancy. They pay little notice to other forms of terrorism in Africa, Sri Lanka or Indi a : these pose no threat to the West.
Within Indi a , Maoists pose a far greater threat than Muslim militants in 150 districts, one-third of Indi a 's area. But major cities feel threatened only by Muslim groups. So the national elite and media focus overwhelmingly on Muslim terrorism. The elite are hardly aware that this is an elite phenomenon.
Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons. Going by this definition, the British Raj referred to Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many other Indi an freedom fighters as terrorists. These were Hindu and Sikh rather than Muslim.
Guerrilla fighters from Mao Zedong to Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro killed civilians during their revolutionary campaigns. They too were called terrorists until they triumphed. Nothing Muslim about them.
In Palestine , after World War II, Jewish groups (the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang) fought for the creation of a Jewish state, bombing hotels and installations and killing civilians. The British, who then governed Palestine , rightly called these Jewish groups terrorists. Many of these terrorists later became leaders of independent Israel - Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon. Ironically, these former terrorists then lambasted terrorism, applying this label only to Arabs fighting for the very same nationhood that the Jews had fought for earlier.
In Germany in 1968-92, the Baader-Meinhoff Gang killed dozens, including the head of Treuhand, the German privatisation agency. In Italy , the Red Brigades kidnapped and killed Aldo Moro, former prime minister.
The Japanese Red Army was an Asian version of this. Japan was also the home of Aum Shinrikyo, a Bu dd hist cult that tried to kill thousands in the Tokyo metro system using nerve gas in 1995.
In Europe , the Irish Republican Army has been a Catholic terrorist organisation for almost a century. Spain and France face a terrorist challenge from ETA, the Basque terrorist organisation.
Africa is ravaged by so much civil war and internal strife that few people even bother to check which groups can be labelled terrorist. They stretch across the continent. Possibly the most notorious is the
Lord's Salvation Army in Uganda , a Christian outfit that uses children as warriors.
In Sri Lanka , the Tamil Tigers have long constituted one of the most vicious and formidable terrorist groups in the world. They were the first to train children as terrorists. They happen to be Hindus. Suicide bombing is widely associated with Muslim Palestinians and Iraqis, but the Tamil Tigers were the first to use this tactic on a large scale. One such suicide bomber assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
In Indi a , the militants in Kashmir are Muslim. But they are only one of several militant groups. The Punjab militants, led by Bhindranwale, were Sikhs. The United Liberation Front of Assam is a Hindu terrorist group that targets Muslims rather than the other way round. Tripura has witnessed the rise and fall of several terrorist groups, and so have Bodo strongholds in Assam . Christian Mizos mounted an insurrection for decades, and Christian Nagas are still heading militant groups.
But most important of all are the Maoist terrorist groups that now exist in no less than 150 out of Indi a 's 600 districts. They have attacked police stations, and killed and razed entire villages that oppose them. These are secular terrorists (like the Baader Meinhof Gang or Red Brigades). In terms of membership and area controlled, secular terrorists are far ahead of Muslim terrorists.
In sum, terrorism is certainly not a Muslim monopoly. There are or have been terrorist groups among Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and even Bu dd hists. Secular terrorists (anarchists, Maoists) have been the biggest killers.
Why then is there such a widespread impression that most or all terrorist groups are Muslim? I see two reasons. First, the Indi an elite keenly follows the western media, and the West feels under attack from Islamic groups. Catholic Irish terrorists have killed far more people in Britain than Muslims, yet the subway bombings in London and Madrid are what Europeans remember today. The Baader Meinhof Gang, IRA and Red Brigades no longer pose much of a threat, but after 9/11 Americans and Europeans fear that they could be hit anywhere anytime. So they focus attention on Islamic militancy. They pay little notice to other forms of terrorism in Africa, Sri Lanka or Indi a : these pose no threat to the West.
Within Indi a , Maoists pose a far greater threat than Muslim militants in 150 districts, one-third of Indi a 's area. But major cities feel threatened only by Muslim groups. So the national elite and media focus overwhelmingly on Muslim terrorism. The elite are hardly aware that this is an elite phenomenon.
" Terrorism is generally defined as the killing of civilians for political reasons."
ReplyDeleteThis definition is wrong, to start with we should know the difference and should not call it a resistance terrorism.
Terrorism is not for political but insurgency, these two are different things.
Terrorism is related to mafia and insurgency with political aims.
Mafia doesn't enjoy masses support whereas insurgency or resistance can not be sustained without public support.
Terror is mafias way of deterring people and the law to reach them, insurgency stops state instead to check a states unchecked and cruel authority and keeps people's rights its prime objective.
Mafia harbors a unlawful group's fights law and keep the people under terror not to speak against it or take action.
So Muslim are not terrorists, instead they are prey to the state terrorism world wide.
Well researched and sound conclusions. In a follow up piece the author may like to cite some examples of state terrorism and, again if he likes, opine if this phenomenon may now (also) be considered as a technique of fighting wars. After all, the states, even when engaged in conventional warfare, have targeted non-combatants to help achieve war aims. Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Dresden in World War 2 may be some such examples.
ReplyDeleteInteresting obsevations by TJ & MAD.
ReplyDeleteI attach an article here by Yasmeen.This is widely availble on net.
Laila
Jihad and Terrorism: Are both synonymous?
By: Yasmeen Ali
http://www.pakistantalk.com/forums/war-extremism/7024-jihad-terrorism-both-synonymous.html
Terrorism is the product of Zionists, it started much before a phrase as such was coined. Before the French, Russian revolutions etc the people were terrorised.Israel has been created through an instrument of terrorism supported by the US, France, Great Britain and Russia. when it suits the west then its the right to self determination and when it is applied against them, then its terrorism.
ReplyDeleteThe history of terrorism is a history of well-known and historically significant individuals, entities, and incidents associated, whether rightly or wrongly, with terrorism. Scholars agree that terrorism is a disputed term, and very few of those labelled terrorists describe themselves as such.
ReplyDeleteScholars dispute whether the roots of terrorism date back to the first century and the Sicarii Zealots, to the eleventh century and the Al-Hashshashin, to the 19th century and Narodnaya Volya, or to other eras.
In the 1st century CE, the Jewish Zealots in Iudaea Province rebelled, killing prominent collaborators with Roman rule.
This is the earliest examples of terrorism.
MUJTABA , MAY NOT REALIZE IT YET , BUT HE STARTED SOUNDED LIKE A ''TRUMPET'' IN AN ORCHESTRA WHICH BREAKS IN AND SAYS ITS THE ''ZIONIST''!!ALL THE BAD THINGS STARTED WITH THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT , WELL LETS BE OBJECTIVE IT CANT BE ALL BAD .THE'ZIONISTS'' MANAGED TO GET A PEACE OF PRIME PROPERTY IN MIDDLEEAST , AND TURNED INTO A STATE CALLED 'ISRAEL' FOR THE JEWS,AND JEWS MIND YOU ARE THE PEOPLE , OF THE ''DAROOD'' WHERE WE ALL CLOSE OUR EYES AND REQUEST FOR SIMILIAR BLESSINGS, SHOWERED BY GOD ON THE PROGENY OF ABRAHAM.
ReplyDeleteHAVING SAID THAT , HOW MANY TIMES DO WE LOOK INWARD AND ASK OURSELVES , WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UPTO?,INSTEAD OF BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE ON THIS EARTH.
THE WAY WE GO EMOTIONALLY WILD , THE MOMENT THE WORD ISLAM IS UTTERED NEEDS TO BE CAREFULLY STUDIED . THE ENEMIES OF THIS COUNTRY ARE USING THIS LIKE A RED CLOTH SHOWN TO TO BULL , WHERE IT CHARGES IN , RIGHT TO THE POINT OF THE SWORD OF THE MATADOR . WE HAVE BECOME A NATION OF WILD BULLS , EASILY AGITATED , BY THE RED COLOUR , WHILE WORLD WATCHES FROM THE SPECTATOR STANDS , AND IT SUITS THE 'MATADOR' COMPLETELY AS WE FACILITATE ITS JOB . EVEN TODAY , I CAME ACROSS AN EMAIL WITH PICTURES OF DESCECRATION, AND ANGER ON THE NET . WE ARE SPREADING THE MATERIAL MORE TO THE FORECORNERS OF THE GLOBE BY EVEN DISCUSSING THE SAME .IT SUITS THE 'MATADORS' THE MORE ANGRY WE BECOME , THIER JOB BECOMES EASIER .
@Aquarias Certainly I do not absolve the ones at the helm of affairs but self accusation has also become a fashion as you have said it. What is being talked here is terrorism and not the other corrupt practices of the society or the leadership.
ReplyDeleteThe mess that we are in is purely because of faulty vision,political structure, lack of faith and commitment,personal motives and many other similar things. Could you please provide a solution to all these ills?