Thankyou for this opportunity to share my views on an ugly reality of today’s world– the threat to democratic societies from the globalisation of terror.
It gives me no pleasure to say that we in India have experienced this realityfor the past many years, but it took September 11 to dramatically bring theglobal reach of terrorism into the collective consciousness of the world.
The world now accepts that terrorism can be tackled effectively only with aglobal and comprehensive approach. UN Security Council Resolution 1373 shows theright direction. However, the world’s democracies have to co-operateeffectively in its implementation and ensure compliance of other countries. Thisrequires collective political will, undiluted by short-term political oreconomic calculations. Whatever our political predilections or strategiccalculations, we cannot condone terrorism somewhere, while condemning itelsewhere, because this lenience will boomerang on all of us. We have tosystematically choke off the three crucial lifelines of terrorist groups:refuge, finances and arms.
It is a self-evident truth that democratically multicultural societies are theprime targets of terrorism and are also the most vulnerable to its attacks.Terrorists exploit the civil liberties, religious tolerance and culturaldiversity in our countries. They seek to destroy our democratic fabric byfomenting sectarian divisions and cultural tensions and ultimately deprive us ofthat very freedom which they have exploited.
It is also a fact, often ignored, that the sponsorship, bases and finances forterrorism come from totalitarian military or theocratic regimes. They nurtureand support extremist terrorist groups to further their political agenda. Inturn, these groups make themselves indispensable to these regimes by maintainingthe focus on external campaigns and diverting attention from the inadequacies oftheir internal systems.
It is here that we should look for the roots of terrorism. Those who keepharping on the "root causes" of terrorism should recognize that they arefound in the military adventurism and religious extremism promoted bytotalitarian regimes.
Democracies are more vulnerable to terrorism, also because our values inhibiteffective anti-terrorist action. Intrusive surveillance, curtailment ofliberties, restrictions on movement, and other such tedious security proceduresare highly unpopular because they affect the quality of our life. Today we haveto reconcile ourselves to some infringement of our rights and freedoms, so thatwe can counter the far more destructive threat from terrorism. We have to takedecisive, tough and forceful action against terrorists, which is both punitiveand deterrent. Even while demanding restraint and fairness from our police andsecurity agencies, we should recognize that extraordinary circumstances call foreffective responses. The human rights of terrorists cannot override those oftheir victims – not only those hit by their actions, but also the generationswhich are denied normal life and economic progress by the prevalence ofterrorism.
Distinctions are sometimes drawn between different acts of terrorism. In somecases, we are told, it is not really terrorism, but a freedom struggle. It isalso said that the battle against terrorism is really a battle for the heartsand minds of the population which harbours the terrorists. These facilearguments defy logic. They assert that Osama bin Laden’s associates arefreedom fighters when they act in one country and terrorists when they actelsewhere. They imply that freedom fighters can indiscriminately massacrecivilians among the population they are seeking to liberate, without losingtheir popular support. They ignore the fact that it is not popular support, buta fear psychosis created by violence that suppresses the silent majority inthese societies.