Terrorism: A Global War

TERRORISM

Now a day the world became a global village due to rapid scientific development. But the major issue through out the world is terrorism. The word ‘terrorism’ has its different sense. It is necessary to know what Terrorism is and why it is generated. Initially the terrorism belongs to one area, between certain groups, between few races and religions. But now there are no barriers for terrorism. This is the resent trend of terrorism.

The main reasons for the generation of Terrorism is extremism, Patriotism, Regionalism as well as Racism. People may become terrorists if they have been unjustified in their personal issues also. It is not possible to give clear-cut meaning of Terrorism, but it can be said that embracing Terrorism will be the destruction of Country, State, people etc

As per the Aims of Terrorists on global level are concerned, they want to destroy right to live, freedom and safety, which are regarded as the basic fundamental rights. Destroying the basic values of a democratic society is also another objective. Terrorism should be controlled and must be fought on all stages and by all the players of society: organizations, political players, economic players, and civil and military structures. For that there must be coordination among each other to combat this global threat, which questions our freedom. The Terrorism became a moving target, terrorists activities can be commenced for all sorts of reasons abstractly at least, for none at all other than to promote revolution or to express disgust.

The terrorist’s act generally occurs out of grievance and aggravation, real or imagined, religious, political, economic and personal. Terrorism or the threat of terrorism, can involve weapons of mass destruction, or it can consist of measures of massacre domination and intimation directed on individuals, at a group or class or on all the inhabitants of a region or state. Initially the terrorism was limited to one opponent but now they are trying to see with global vision. The supporters of their opponents are also targeted. The LTTE a terrorist organization primarily is waging guerilla war against the Sri Lankan government, but also assassinated Indian Prime Minister for supporting Sri Lanka. The Taliban’s not only were against the Christianity but also shown their animosity against Buddhist statutes. Even there were factions among the same religions, which is taking number of lives of the same religion.

Terrorists Network:

As the world became global village, the technique used by the terrorists also became sophisticated. Crimes have been committed by utilizing Internet for easy transformation of data, which is affecting public. Bomb blasting through remote control, Mobiles, etc became the normal practice of the terrorists. A terrorist is identified by the means employed by him and not by the goal. That means the goal may be right but the way used to achieve the goal by adopting illegal means is wrong. That amounts to terrorism.

The major aggression of the terrorist was to distress World Trade Center which took place on 11^th September 2001 in USA. It was a shock to the world which left a bad memory in the modern history where more than 5000 people lost their lives.

After occurrence of major global horror and dangerous incident to the existence of peace on 11^th September 2001 several governments took measure through acts. The USA government took serious note about Terrorism on international level, and other countries also worked for the safety of general public, conducted convention and discussed over the issue of terrorism. Later on, the USA with the combination of alliance and with the acquiescence of UNO attacked on Iraq to squash the terrorists showing some proofs against the peace; conclusively the leader of Iraq, President Saddam Hussain has been sentenced to death.

Precautionary measures have been taken on international level to tackle the problem of terrorism. It was stated in the European Summit meeting in Berlin, that the United States and the European Union have the same aim of global cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Nations should get together on a global level and act for security of them selves and world at large. This should be done without disturbing others sovereignty and personal freedom.

Impact of Terrorism

It is revealed that some countries are perpetuating Terrorist on the name of Religion, Race etc. At present, the most wanted Terrorist is Osama-bin-ladin. Several efforts have been made to detain him; so many persons have been slaughtered stating that they belong to Osama. U.S.A warned other countries not to protect him and raised voice against terrorism. So many legislations have been passed in UNO to trounce terrorism all over the world.

A seminar on “Regional and Global Terrorist Threats: The way Out” recently held at CRRID, Chandigarh in association with the M.L.Sondhi Institute for Asia-Pacific Affairs involved participants from CIS, Israel, Pakistan, Nepal and India. One of the participants questioned the concept of the global war on terror, since each manifestation can be traced to particular and local political causes as in Sri Lanka, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, Kashmir and Palestine. Perhaps it is more a “global” than a global phenomenon, with international technologies and methodologies applied to local situations. Hence the suggestion is that nations cannot take each terrorist organization as a different one. Even though they are different they are interlinked and mutually supportive. So a concreted international effort can only eradicate terrorism totally.

The EU and the fight against terrorism:

The security measure were reinforced by the EU since September 11^th,2001. they have made more stringent efforts after the attacks on Madrid in 2004, and London in 2005. A new strategy was developed and adopted at the European level. It has appointed a coordinator to fight against terrorism.

This strategy has 4 themes:

Prevention: consists of avoiding individuals from indulge towards terrorism by tackle the major cases which lead to the recruitment of terrorists and radicalization.

Protection includes protecting citizens by reducing vulnerability in the fact of attacks.

Perusal concerns directly to the terrorists themselves both inside Europe and outside Europe. It concerns preventing communication, planning, movement, disruption of support networks and strict acts on monetary polices preventing access to finance and equipment.

Reaction concerns the fire fighters directly. This is the last step and once predictor ad prevention has failed, obviously the next step will be reaction.

Civil protection in European level is covered by a Community mechanism, which was created in October 2001. As of now there are thirty countries i.e., 25 European countries and other countries like Iceland, Bulgaria, Norway Liechtenstein and Romania are grouped under this mechanism. Under this mechanism there are few measures and guidelines that the commission has set up. They mostly look forward for mutual assistance in sharing information through better communication. This mechanism keeps the members in attention and make sure that they will act in any emergencies.

Policies and Legislations:

Anti-terrorism legislations were passed at international level with the aim to tackle terrorism. It includes specific amendments allowing the state to avoid its own legislation when combating terrorism-allied crimes under the grounds of necessity.

Since 1934 the foremost Agenda on International level was Terrorism, with the establishment of League of Nations and even with the establishment of United Nations in the month of June 1945. The UN General Assembly implemented the Global Counter-Terrorism strategy on 8^th September 2006. There are some more related international conventions which were enacted to counter terrorism are U.K Terrorism Act, 2006, Australian Anti-Terrorism Act, 2005, Terrorist and disruptive Activities (prevention) Act, Military Commissions Act of 2006, SAFETY Act.

Special measures taken to safeguard the public

Several international organizations and even governments of the countries are making enough efforts to safeguard public from terrorism. Resolutions such as 1267, 1269, and 1333 of United Nations Security Council condemned the acts of international terrorism and asked the member nations to draft relevant laws to control it. Even Security Council 1368’s resolution also was taken aftermath of September 11. It states terrorism as a threat to international peace and security. The measures generally focus on the implementation of co-operation and support activities among the nations. The measures should not be so coercive and must not constitute threat. There should be quick search and rescue activities by the forces. After the event of 11^th September 2001 in USA special measures were taken by the foreign countries to safeguard the general public in order to achieve Charter of the UNO against terrorist attack in USA as well as Humanitarian Measures based on relevant resolution passed by the United Nations. Later on an Anti terrorism bill passed in the United States which provided aid to the families of Public Safety officer who were injured or killed in terrorist attack.

Overview of the relevant case laws:

• NEUREMBERG TRIAL 96 FRD.69 (1946)

• United State Vs. Abu Marzook 2006 W 25008 (N.B.ILL)

The brief facts of case law Nuremberg Trail:

Twenty Germany Nazi leaders and six organizations committed genocides during the Second World War. They were prosecuted as war criminals. The evidence proved that they committed with common planning and conspiracy. The Nuremberg Tribunal was established after the Second World War to try the war criminals of many. The trial started on 20-11-1945.

Judgment: The Nuremberg Tribunal gave its judgment on 30-9-1946. It found that all the accused except three were the guilty of criminal offences and genocides. It acquitted those three, and imposed death sentence for ten accused, awarded punishment of transportation for life to 3 accused and awarded imprisonment for a long period to four accused. The Tribunal also found that out of six organizations, only tow organizations (the Reich Cabinet and the General Staff and High Command) were not guilty and the remaining four organizations were guilty.

Principles : The Tribunal rejected the defenses of ‘nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege’ (There is no crime more punishment except in accordance with law) and act of State. The Tribunal observed. The fact that a person who committed an act, which constitutes a crime under international law acted as the head of the State or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.

Implication of terrorist attacks in recent days:

With the recent developments number of universities and research agendas are adding terrorism as topic and lot of ‘think thanks’ are into that work. Still up to the September 11 incident the people all over the globe were not particular about the terrorism except form nations like India, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Algeria, Israel and few more which were facing it form many decades. “After 9/11 it became impossible, even for the most sheltered ivory-towered academic, to deny the reality of terrorism. The hijacked airliners were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing an estimated 3,000 civilians.”Many conventions and declaration proclaimed a transformation of the world. But American responded negatively and continued the established approaches, polices trends etc after 9/11. September 11,2001, attacks shown the vulnerability of the Super power. But it responded and demonstrated that America remains exceptional in its capacity to deploy vast resources and destructive assets on a global scale. Immediate actions against the Taliban regime, reveled it as a hegemonic power. It bounced back well than every one expected. It is a process of removal of its opponents all around the world and calling them as a threat to global threat. It used the situation well for its own uses on the name of ‘war against terrorism’. The world is afraid of the word terrorism. The general public, nations ranging from developing to developed are not in a position to hear the term terrorism at least. The terrorist organization are taking this as an advantage and trying to create more chaos among the public. Initially they used the media as a tool to communicate their demands but with the more accessibility they are using it as a tool to create more confusion among the pubic. They are even hacking confidential documents of government, which became a major concern to them now. People were upset with the terrorism. This is one of the aims of terrorism. Terrorists were doing their activities from several decades but now they came into a global arena. This order to control global terrorism nations also started a ‘war against Terrorism’ under the leadership of America. This became a global phenomenon now. Now we entered into a permanent state of emergency, which is now called ‘war on Terrorism’. The attacks of terrorist now are very difficult to under stand. Intelligence authorities are failing to trace the information of attacks. They are ending in doing the aftermath analysis, which tells about the failure, the death toll and the lapses.

To defend the terrorism there are two methods like anti-terrorism and counter terrorism. The antiterrorism is dealt with the lawful steps, which can be taken by the government with the special legislation and also martial law. The later one is the aggressive one and which talks about the armed methods. These include assassinations, arbitrary reprisals on the terrorists. “Terrorism is, among other things, a weapon used by the weak against the strong.” The world is entering the 21^st century with lot of hope and improvement it had gone through the last centuries. These will be accompanied with the terrorism, which has the power to question the existence of peace and tranquility.

EU measures after September 11.

The new laws had lot of impact upon the immigrants, non-citizens and asylum seekers lives. In order to mitigate the more effect on those EU took enough safe guards and kept citizens and non-citizen in same line. We know that there remains a scope of suspicion and rejection of non-citizens in wide manner. After September 11, 2001 the stringent immigration polices and harsh asylum has fostered the potential nexus among all the groups. This was reveled after the attacks on Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

Every country has strengthened its judiciary and police administration after September 11,2001. Apart from that the nations haven’t progressed much. The focus was mostly shifted in making stringent laws against the immigration laws and non-citizens, which even made the condition worse than before. Numerous attempts are going on to combat terrorism on International level, in this regard, mostly United Nations playing a significant role to eradicate the terrorist’s acts. On the other hand, the Security Council has also making efforts in countering terrorism through various norms passed by the UNO to squash the illegal acts of the terrorist. Further the UNO extended its assistance with the Member of USA and opened a new phase in their counter-terrorism efforts by agreeing on a global strategy to counter terrorism. The strategy adopted and launched on 19 September 2006 by the common agreement of the world with equivalent strategic approach to fight against terrorism. In September 2005 Summit a strategy builds on the unique consensus to strengthen the role of the United Nations to condemn terrorism in all its forms to combat terrorist felony.

Following measures taken against Terrorism

1. During the past years the Republic of Cyprus not faced any terrorist activities which threat to the country, so they doesn’t consider it. Even in the presence of two military bases of Britishes and the Turkish livelihood of the northern part of its territory. In the opinion of the Cyprus govt. terrorism is not based on any religion.

2. Institutional Framework

The Ministry of Foreign affairs has a role in the general coordination and transmission of information though it is indirectly involved in the measures of counter-terrorism. Conversely, (MOKAS) Customs and Excise Department) are eagerly in cooperation for the adoption and implementation of the provisions of United Security Council. The

Cyprus’ policy against terrorism at international level has been formulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with European Union and U.N. Twelve protocols and conventions are contracted by the Republic of Cyprus which is signatory to squash the terrorists nuclear act terminating of the negotiations and the implementation of the Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism. Cyprus is totally agreed to the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1371 (2001) to combat terrorism. The fifth report of the same was submitted on 2^nd August 2005.

Measures in the European Union:

The Cyprus consents the objectives of the Counter-terrorism strategy and supports the European Union to combat terrorism. The main objectives of the strategy are, to protect citizens and their infrastructure, to trauma terrorists network and to stifle the terrorist attacks.

The public policies should be so good enough that they can serve the purpose of controlling the terrorism and also safeguarding the public safety. All the advancement we made in our civilizations is questioned by the terrorism. So government should be fulfill the basic guidelines of police then only our development will have perfect meaning.

References:

^1. Countering the New Terrorism. Ian O. Lesser , Bruce Hoffman, John Arquilla, David

Ronfeldt , Michele Zanini – . Rand. Santa Monica, CA, 1999. Pp 85.

2. International instruments to counter terrorism, United Nations.

International instruments to counter terrorism, United Nations

<http;/www.u.-org/terrorism/instruments.html> December,22,2007.

3. Letter to a Frenchman on the Present Crisis (1870) by Mikhail Bakunin

“Letter to a Frenchman on the Present Crisis” (1870) by Mikhail Bakunin

http://marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1870-frenchman.htmDecember,22,2007.

4. Global Responses to Terrorism: 9/11, Afghanistan and beyond. Mary Buckley, Rick

Fawn Routledge. : New York. 2003. Pp 25.

5. Global Responses to Terrorism: 9/11, Afghanistan and beyond. Mary Buckley,

Rick Fawn Routledge.: New York. 2003. Pp: 52.

6. Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction. Charles Townshend. Oxford University Press.

Oxford, England. 2002. Pp 1.

7. Terrorism: A Very Short Introduction. Charles Townshend . Oxford University Press.

Oxford, England. 2002. Pp: 114.