Date: 24/12/2022

Relevance: GS-3: Role of External State and Non-state Actors in creating challenges to Internal Security, Linkages of Organized Crime with Terrorism.

Key Phrases: Terrorism, Interpol, International consensus, Permanent communication channel, Real-time information, intelligence, Maritime regional cooperation, Mutual legal assistance.

Context:

• Recently, many meetings and conferences have been held on the issue of countering terrorism worldwide including meetings of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, the No Money for Terror Conference, and an Interpol Conference which was held in New Delhi.
• The recurring theme has been the need to wage a coordinated fight against terrorism but nothing much seems to have changed.

Key Highlights:

• India and Pakistan, among the most affected by terrorism, have continued to hurl invectives at each other instead of finding ways to cooperate to deal with the terrorism menace.

Relevance of Past Instances:

• History is most relevant when it comes to ensuring a proper understanding of threats such as terrorism, which have a long-term impact.
• Strategic Implications
  • Two landmark terror attacks that the world witnessed at the starting of the 21st century were the September 11, 2001 terror attack in New York, and the November 26, 2008 attacks on multiple targets in Mumbai.
  • Both in their own way reflected the kind of paradigmatic changes that were taking place in the practice of violence and both had profound strategic implications.
    • The 9/11 attack heralded what came to be regarded as ‘new age terrorism’, while Mumbai underscored the dangers of state-sponsored terrorism.
    • With these attacks the cognitive map of terrorism had changed.
• Rise of New Terrorist Entities
  • Series of major terror attacks that took place in 2015-16 such as attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris (January 2015) and on the Bardo Museum in Tunis (March 2015), signaled not only the emergence of ‘new age’ terrorism but also the rise of new terrorist entities such as the Islamic State (IS) and the al Qaeda - each with their own caliphs.
• New Complicated Patterns of Relationships
  • During 2016, the IS launched several more spectacular attacks (some with its allies) across Asia, Europe and North Africa.
  • The intensity has since declined to an extent, but this is offset by indications of new complicated patterns of relationships among various terrorist conglomerates.
  • It has provided a fillip to many fringe extremist organizations that nurse a terror mindset.

Threats still exist:

• The declining level of serious terrorist incidents does not, however, translate into a decline in terrorism.
• Today’s scaled-down attacks of little known targets do not attract public attention. But as in most other fields of human endeavor, it is the small incidents that portray what could happen in the near and the not too distant future.
• The counter-terrorism experts across India must read proper meanings of many recent terror attacks, such as the one in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Mangalore (Karnataka) attacks.
  • The incidents may appear relatively insignificant, but are symptomatic of growing radicalisation and suggestive of the fact that a sizeable base is being built in the southern region, which could lead to the creation of organizations on the model of the Indian Mujahideen.
  • Constant and careful vigil by counter-terrorism experts is needed to keep track of not only these activities but also the kind of links that are being established (under the radar) by global terrorist outfits whose presence is not as widely advertised as that of al-Qaeda and the IS.

Way Forward:

• Need for Common Definition:
  • There is a need for a common definition of terrorism and terrorists to develop a comprehensive strategy to counter cross-border terrorism
  • World leaders should ensure that there is no place to treat some terrorists as good and others as bad, based on each nation’s predilections.
• Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT):
  • There is a need to reactivate the proposal for the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that has been languishing in the offices of the UN, and finalize the list of items needed to check terrorism globally.
    • Acceptance of the CCIT would send signals far more potent than empty platitudes by world leaders at global conferences on the need to defeat terrorism.
• Combination of both Technology and Manpower:
  • We require a combination of both technology and manpower to tackle the threat at the border region, correct information, and cooperation among the people are required with high training forces and better equipment to end infiltration and terrorism in the region.
  • Counter-terrorism agencies the world over need to hone their skills and capabilities on how best to counter ‘new age terrorism’.
• Cross-border Coordination:
  • There is also a clear need for counter-terrorism agencies across the world to function in a more coordinated manner, exchanging both intelligence and tactics.
• Permanent Communication Channel:
  • Interpol should develop a permanent communication channel between counter-terror agencies where real-time information and intelligence can be shared among countries.

Conclusion:

• Terrorism could well prove to be the defining threat of not merely the present, but to future generations as well.
• Therefore, a comprehensive strategy and multi-domain expertise are the need of the hour to counter terrorism effectively.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. What is the relevance of past instances of terrorism? Also, suggest measures to counter the emerging new patterns of terrorism. (200 Words).