Monday, 15 February 2016

Emerging Growth of Terrorism – Give Way to Peace

According to Google, terrorism may be defined as, “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims”.

Pakistan is fighting against terrorism with all its might. Operation Zarb-e-Azb launched in June 2014 has proved fruitful in eliminating terrorists from their hideouts and sancturies. After the establishment of military courts, terrorists are being given fair trial; if found guilty are awarded death penalties. Pakistan has made it clear to the world that they want to be a terror free nation.

Themilitary forces and civil society did not succumb even in the face of the recent attack on Bacha Khan UniversityCharsadda.The security at various educational institutes was beefed up and the nation remained on high alert. According to DG ISPR, Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, although Pakistan is fighting against terrorism, “the world should realise that terrorism is a global threat and it needs a global response.”Restricting terrorism to some religion,country and community will restrict resposiblity and focus against it,wherea it is global phenomenon and necessitates global resolve to fight against.

Blaming Someone sigally for this multifacet phenomenon will divide the world and instead of joining hands against it the blammed one will try to hide facts and use political or communal sympathies to repell blame or reduce pressure ,thus giving undesired support to terrorists ,much desired by them.The subnationalists,religious.secterian and economically deprived groups will be supported by their sypathisers worldover and counterterrorism effort and resources will be dispersed.If further aggravated countrries , through their intelligence agencies and inner support can repeat same actions in other areas to divert and divide pressure. Resole of all nations avoiding tranfrontier hostile cladestine actions is key to isolate terrorists world wide.Suppressive state actions against selected communities attract wordwide sympathy for those being suppressed.Active role of UN is of paramount importance.

On the same level, Ambassador MaleehaLodhi, while addressing the issue asked the 193 member UN assembly not to link terrorism with any country, race, religion, culture or nationality. She asked all the spokespersons present there to inculcate this in their nation’s principles. She condemned politicians who were relating terrorist acts with a particular religion and increasing fan following by infuriating their supporters. This is the root of all evils.

Aninteresting anecdote put forward by Rachel Rizzo highlights the actual threats are being faced by the United States. The US spends a staggering $100 billion annually to counter terrorism. In addition to this, 83% of Americans think of ISIS as a major threat. Moreover, the Republican and Democratic parties support the presence of US ground forces Afghanistan. But is this spending justified? Rizzo analyzes this further by pointing out that just over two-dozen lives were lost in terrorism from foreign forces, while one hundred thousand lives were lost by gun violence and around four hundred thousand by car accidents. It’s fruitful to keep terrorism at bay and act against it but blowing it out of proportion is going a little overboard.

The way that incidents are happening worldwide, terrorist attacks can happen anytime, anywhere. No amount of planning can prepare us for such incidents. The attacks on Paris last year left 130 dead, hundreds wounded and the world in shock. The Islamic State (IS) organization, claimed responsibility for these attacks.

What was one day in Paris is every day in Syria. The current crisis in Syria started in 2011, when people rebelled against government forces, and what started as protests has now become a full fledge war with international powers pitching in.The IS fighting for its own interests also continues to fight against those who refuse to adhere to their policies. In 2014, the US began air strikes to eliminate IS. A year after that, Russia followed suit. As a result of heavy bombart,more than 205,000 have been killed, millions are now homeless and seek refuge.

Aspeople from different communities, religion and nations, it is our personal duty to stop hating each other. Think of others as fellow human beings and treat them likewise. Governments should also do the same. Statesmen focus on furthering political motives and carry out actions in support of this, regardless of its consequences. It is high time that governments think towards peace as a global interest for all.