Divya Tripathi
Terrorism means
the policy of striking terror in the minds of the people by violent methods to achieve
some ends: Terrorism has become a common burning problem in all the nations and
has become an obstacle in the path of peace, development and security. There is
no every end or gap in the worst things caused by terrorism. The heightened
consciousness of the menace of terrorism of the past decade has led to a
considerable increase in the literature on this subject. This research paper in
the light of existing literature highlights the genesis and diabolic effects of
terrorism. The paper has also given a glimpse of Indian terrorism and has
suggested few remedies which should be implemented in order to have an
annihilation of this burring problem.
Keywords:
Terrorism, Fatalities, Killings, Economic consequence etc.
Rationality of the Study
Terrorism as a global issue requires
multidisciplinary approach. Individual disciplines such as psychology,
sociology, political science, international relations and religious studies can
all make important contributions. Terrorism in India has also been receiving closer
attention from economists, and it is from this perspective the paper will try
to answer some of the important questions which are as: What is the Genesis of
terrorism? What are its kinds? What causes it? What are the consequences? What
are the ways to mitigate it? 1
Terrorism at the international level
and deliberate use of means capable of producing a common danger" to
commit "an act imperiling life, physical integrity or human health or
threatening to destroy substantial property." Prior to the establishment
of the UN, a Convention for the Prevention of Terrorism was concluded in Geneva
in 1937.2 However the word "terrorism" has been derived
from French word "terrorisme" which is based on the Latin verb
terrere (to cause to tremble). Terrorism is defined in the U.S. by the code of
Federal Bureau of Investigation as "the unlawful use of force and violence
against person or property to intimidate coerce a government, the civilian
population or any segment
thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." In 2004,
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566 condemned terrorist acts as:
"criminal acts, including against civilians, committed with the intent to
cause death or serious bodily injury, or taking of hostages, with the purpose
to provoke a state of terror in the general public or in a group of persons or
particular persons, intimidate a population or compel a government or an
international Organization to do or to abstain from doing any act, which
constitute offences within the scope of 'and as defined in the international
conventions and protocols relating to terrorism, are under no circumstances
justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological,
racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature".
Terrorism is a strategy and
violence has used to produce certain effects in a group of people so as to
attain some political end or ends. One of the effects of such a strategy is
fear, however, there can be and usually are, other effects".3
"Terrorism is the use of violence in order to induce a state of fear and
submission in the victim".4 "Terrorists are people who use
acts of terror to achieve their political objectives".5 It is
actual use or threat of use of violence by a group to achieve some political
goals. It is usually used against a government, but sometimes another group,
class of party can also be its target. "Terrorism can be best defined by
the quality of acts and not by the perpetrators or the nature of their
causes".6 Though generally the terrorists use violence against
a government and its property very often the civilians become the .immediate
victims of terrorist acts.
"Terrorism is the use of
violence politically as a means of pressuring a government and/or society into
accepting a radical political or social change".7 It is a kind
of violence exercised for political goals outside all normal political
relationships. No moral rules or restraints regulate the people who practice
terrorism. Terrorists do not recognizing any rules or conventions of welfare.
It can be said that they give importance not to means but to the ends.
Terrorism is a special form of clandestine undeclared and unconventional
warfare waged against the existing system for some radical change.
Thus, one can say that terrorism
is "criminal acts directed against the state or intended to create a State
of terror in the minds of particular persons or group of persons or the general
public, thus it is the policy of striking terror in the minds of the people by
violent methods to achieve some ends. It is a law of the jungle to use muscle
power and force to get things done. It is a barbarian act. Terrorism has now
become an international phenomenon. There are terrorists in developed and
advanced countries as well as developing countries like India. There has been
exploitation of the weak and the poor for centuries by the rich and the
powerful.
Kinds of
Terrorism & Terrorist
Groups- A large number of terrorist groups surfaced and became active over
the past few decades. Though these groups had some common characteristics, they
have different motives and 'Objectives.8 Categorization of the word
terrorism and terrorist activity in this manner is important in assisting us to
determine the nature of the threat and the response which the threat demands.
There are two kinds of Terrorism, one is political terrorism and the other is
criminal terrorism. In the former Terrorism seeks to attain some political
objective by creating panic on a large scale. This type of terrorism can be
disastrous as, these terrorists are well trained for the task; they are very
well organized, and also have a solid back up support of some political big
wig. In this, senseless violence is indulged in, just to create a panic among
the people and to create problems for the Government. Organizations who harbor
and train terrorists indulge in hijacking airplanes, shooting innocent people,
using of bombs to scare the public, and the spreading of rumors are the main
modus operand! of these political terrorists. Besides these political
terrorists, there is another brand of terrorists termed as, criminal
terrorists. Their work is chiefly to kidnap for ransom.
The
contemporary categories of terrorist groups are:
• Issue.
• Ideological •Exile •State
and State-Sponsored
A more assessment of the
terrorist tactics and threat may be grouped as Traditional Terrorism and New
Terrorism.
Traditional Terrorism- The major class in this group
of terrorism is orthodox in
nature. Some of them are as below:
•
Assassination: •Bombing • Facility
Attack: • Maiming: •Sabotage: • Kidnapping:
• Hijacking: • Threats: •
Assault: • Armed Attack:
New Terrorism- A major group in the class of
new terrorism is chemical, biological
and radiological nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism can reach an unprecedented
level of destruction.9
•
Chemical Terrorism: • Biological Terrorism: • Radiological
Terrorism:
•
Nuclear Terrorism: • Cyber Terrorism:
Some of the weapons, basically
computer software programs, at the disposal of cyber terrorists are:
• Logic bombs which are programmed to destroy or rewrite
the target's data on command,
• Sniffers which monitor communications and transactions,
• Computer worms which use up disc space by replicating
themselves until the computer's memory is gone.
• HERF guns which shoot high-energy radio signals at an
electronic target and knock that out.
Several terrorists groups like
the Peruvian Tupac Amarus, the Irish Sinn Fein, the Turkish Dead Soul
extremists and the Kashmiri militants have their own internet websites with
which they coordinate their cross-border activities.10
• Agricultural Terrorism: • Eco-Terrorism:
Causes of Terrorism
There are various causational
factors of terrorism; some of the important factors are an follows:
·
Poverty
and economic disadvantage, globalization.
·
Corruption. Non-Democracy
·
Modernization,
Social Facilitation and Revolutionary Ideologies.
·
Religion
& Social or Domain.
·
Ethnicity
nationalism/Separatism.
Beside above mentioned causes
there are other factors responsible for terrorism such as, unemployment and
ignorance, Passion for power, Feeling of social insecurity, Economic offences,
corruption, black-marketing and social and racial discriminations.
We are also still deft to thike
of alternative trajectories for a more sustainable, origins & native
pattern of nationalism. Could these nationalism one-route through native system
where everything states from infinite & descends to microbe?
Consequences of terrorism- One of the important
consequences of terrorism is risk of loss of life of people which is priceless
however there are various ways in which terrorism may have economic
consequences. Some of the important micro and macro economic consequences are
as below:
Diversion of F.D.I- Could we have strategic diversion
vis-a-vis. FDI? Could we endeavour for FDI strategy & not for capital
resources dev? Should we develop to become large & not to become small?
would we sustain an dimitaps?
Terrorism can impose costs on a targeted
country through a number of avenues. Terrorist incidents have economic
consequences by diverting foreign direct investment (FDI), destroying
infrastructure, redirecting public investment funds to security, or limiting
trade. If a developing country loses enough] FDI, which is an important source
of savings, then it may also experience reduced economic growth. Just as
capital may take flight from a country plagued by a civil war a sufficiently
intense terrorist campaign may greatly reduce capital inflows.11
Terrorism, like civil conflicts, may cause spillover costs among neighboring
countries as a terrorist campaign in a neighbor dissuades capital inflows, or a
regional multiplier causes lost economic activity in the terrorism-ridden
country to resonate throughout the region.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)- The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a
country is regarded as the most important indicator of the
"well-being" of an economy. The GDP relates to the size of the
economy of a particular geographic area in a certain time interval, usually a
year. Terrorism is expected to influence the GDP. Actual attacks as well as the
threat of such attacks create instability in the economic, political and
personal sphere, negatively affecting growth rates and the GDP For example;
personal insecurity as a consequence of terrorism may affect consumption and
investment behavior and thus the GDP. In general, GDP has proven to be
sensitive to the number of terrorist casualties. The affected GDP in turn may
inflict political instability in case governmental counterterrorism measures
turn out to be insufficient. We need to add a GDP-race to the economic reforms?
Public Spending- "Public spending", also referred to as "Government
Spending" or "Government purchases", represents another
macroeconomic factor upon which terrorist attacks are expected to have a
noticeable effect. Public spending includes expenditures by the government on
any good or service. After terrorist attacks, governments may feel forced to
increase spending on security measures to react on both the growing public
insecurity and future attacks. The shift from government spending on
economically productive sectors to less productive security measures may have a
negative effect on the economic growth and inflation rates.
Decline in certain Industries- Some of the industries and
sectors will be more affected by terrorism than others. Tourism, travel,
insurance etc will probably experience reduced demand, or there will be a
change in the composition of demand away from activities that are seen as
likely terrorist targets towards others that are not. Tourism industry will get
severe jolt because of high risk of loss of life involved it and as result
revenue of the nation or a state will significantly fall. Air travel will be
adversely affected because of the additional risks involved in it. The
insurance industry will also be affected. Not only will there be the claims
resulting from terrorist attacks, but an increase in terrorism, or the
perceived threat of terrorism, will increase actuarial risk and will increase
the demand for insurance. An increase in the cost of insurance and, in relation
to this, security, will increase production costs. As a result, firms will
experience a leftward shift in their supply curves, particularly where security
represents an important part of their costs. It is also possible indention have
been limited to curbing the expenditure on risk sector & selling of public
sector units. The implicit properties have been shifting from demand. Small
scale & thing sector to others thank are less welfare inversing that
increased stockpiling of some primary products and raw materials will drive up
their price shifting supply curves further to the left.
Impact on trade flows and technological diffusion- For countries that are situated
close to the technological frontier, innovation and the development of new
technologies is one of the prime drivers of economic growth for advanced
industrial countries. However, for countries that are situated far away on the
technological frontier, foreign direct investment and trade are the main
mechanisms for transmitting leading edge technologies and business practices
among countries. The concern here is that the war on terrorism would adversely
impact trade flows, as costlier airfreight and longer processing times at
customs increase the cost of trade. While there is little evidence so far to
suggest that cross-border investment flows globally have slowed down in the
wake of global terrorism, if the reduction in 'investment flows becomes
significant, it could slow down the diffusion of technology and impede
technological advancement as well as economic growth. Nonetheless, as national
efforts are focused on fighting terrorism, it will lead to greater
international collaboration on the sharing of technological developments.12
Slower pace of globalization- Historically, times of war and economic
distress increase the likelihood that countries will pull away from market
economies. If the United States or any other country is hit by more big
terrorist attacks, the danger is that countries may retreat from globalization,
and guide an increasing share of technological development to the needs of
national security. In fact, in the current environment, many countries may be
comfortable to sacrifice some long-term growth in exchange for more military
and economic security. Another area where countries are searching for a new
balance is the degree of openness between the economy and the rest of the
world. While free trade and open immigration were widely practiced by countries
in the 1990s, the concerns over the infiltration of terrorist cell groups have
led countries to implement more stringent immigration policies and tighter
border controls. In last Globlis. has been clubbed with in rearing unemployed
& not been labour denary. Relatively, Higher ways other are scratetting a
living somehow an sullying in increasing mass in equality & party.
Terrorism in
India- Terrorism
in India should be looked upon as an integral part of our colonial legacy. The
British followed the policy of 'divide and rule' and ultimately divided the
subcontinent into two nations, i.e India & Pakistan which later grew into
three after the independence of Bangladesh. Post-independence and
post-partition violence and terrorism was unprecedented. This partition on the
basis of religion, faith and community has sown seeds of hatred, violence,
terrorism, separatism and communal divide and will continue growing and
flowering for a long time. The rise of extremism arid terrorism in our
north-eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, and Assam, etc is
also part of our colonial legacy. Besides socio-political and economic aspects,
psychological, emotional and religious aspects are also involved in the problem. All these create strong
feelings and extremism. The unprecedented spate of terrorism in the recent past
in Punjab which claims for formation of Khalistan can be understood and appreciated only in this background.
Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir Is also a big problem currently faced by India.
Widespread poverty, unemployment, neglect of youth, peasants and working class
and emotional alienation are some of the main reasons of extremism in the
province. The hostile forces across our borders are also helping it a lot.13
The Indian states are worst
affected by terrorist incidents and fatalities. From the table 1 it is
evident that over the period from 2006-2011, there were, 2849 terrorist incidents
in India which resulted in 12710 deaths (the figure includes civilians,
security personals and terrorists). Terrorism in India is primarily
attributable to religious communities and Naxalite radical ovements. The
regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir,
Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and the Seven Sister States (independence and
autonomy movements). From the table 1 total fatality due to terrorist
and insurgent conflicts in the country continued their decline, registering a
total of total 1074 deaths in 201 las against 1,902 deaths in 2010, and 2,232
in 2009, and a peak of 5,839 in 2001. As of 2011 at least 310 of the country's
636 Districts are currently afflicted by varying intensities of chronic
activity, including subversion, by insurgent and terrorist groupings. 223
Districts across 20 States register Maoist activity; another 20 Districts in
J&K are affected by Pakistan-backed Islamist separatist terrorism; and 67
Districts in six States in the Northeast are affected by numerous ethnicity
based terrorist and insurgent movements. Despite enveloping uncertainty,
unremitting miss governance and widespread public perceptions of insecurity,
the reality of India's multiple terrorist and insurgent movements is that most
of them are weakening. The worst and steadily worsening of conflicts in India
is, without dispute, the Maoist insurgency, principally spearheaded by the
monist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), but including at least another 20
minor Left ing Extremist (LWE, also called Naxalite) factions. Naxalite-related
fatalities, at 1,180 in 2010, now significantly outstrip the combined total of
all other terrorist and insurgent movements in the country.14
Table 1. Incidents and fatalities in India
|
Year
|
Number of
Incidents
|
Number of
fatalities
|
|
2006
|
164
|
2275
|
|
2007
|
154
|
2615
|
|
2008
|
515
|
2613
|
|
2009
|
671
|
2232
|
|
2010
|
647
|
1902
|
|
2011
|
553
|
1074
|
|
Total
|
2704
|
12711
|
Source:
Calculated from GTD and SATP.
However, table 2, clearly shows
that total fatalities in India's Northeast has shown fluctuating trend since
2005 but has fell dramatically to 247 in 2011 from 322 in 2010, from 853 in
2009, and 1,051 in 2008. Table 3, reveals that Manipur and Assam has shown the
most significant improvements in this long-troubled region, with fatalities
dropping from 416 and 391, respectively, in 2009, to 138, 158 in 2010.
Table 2.
Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in
India's Northeast
|
Year
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
Terrorists
|
Total
|
|
2005
|
334
|
69
|
314
|
717
|
|
2006
|
232
|
92
|
313
|
637
|
|
2007
|
457
|
68
|
511
|
1036
|
|
2008
|
404
|
40
|
607
|
1051
|
|
2009
|
270
|
40
|
542
|
852
|
|
2010
|
77
|
22
|
223
|
322
|
|
2011
|
80
|
35
|
132
|
247
|
|
2012
|
17
|
9
|
35
|
61
|
|
Total
|
1854
|
366
|
2642
|
4862
|
Source: SAPT
Table 3 depicts that total
fatalities resulting from the Pakistan-backed terrorist campaigns in Jammu
& Kashmir (J&K) remained at 183 in 2011, 375 in 2010, the same number
as the preceding year, though this figure excludes the 111 persons killed
(overwhelmingly in Police firing) in the terrorist and separatist-backed street
violence which peaked through June-October 2010. Table 3. Fatalities in Terrorist Violence in India
State
|
Year
|
||||||
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
Total
|
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
0
|
21
|
2
|
9
|
0
|
41
|
73
|
Assam
|
174
|
437
|
373
|
391
|
158
|
95
|
1628
|
Jammu & Kashmir
|
1,116
|
111
|
541
|
375
|
375
|
183
|
3367
|
Manipur
|
285
|
408
|
492
|
416
|
138
|
65
|
1804
|
Meghalaya
|
24
|
18
|
12
|
5
|
20
|
29
|
108
|
Mizoram
|
2
|
8
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
17
|
Nagaland
|
92
|
108
|
145
|
18
|
3
|
15
|
381
|
Tripura
|
60
|
36
|
27
|
11
|
3
|
1
|
138
|
Others
|
1002
|
802
|
1008
|
1005
|
1205
|
602
|
644
|
Total
|
2775
|
2615
|
2605
|
2231
|
1902
|
1032
|
8160
|
Source: Calculated from SATP database.
The broadly positive trends -
with the exception of Maoist violence - do not, however, provide an accurate
index to the quality of the state's responses over the intervening period.
Indeed, in all spheres, it is a range of complex extraneous factors that has
led to dramatic improvements, where these have been registered.
Measures to
curb Terrorism- After visualizing the most demonic effects
of terrorism every nation in the world unanimously comes to a decision i.e.
complete eradication of the terrorism with its deep roots all over the world.
For that the following are a few measures which should be implemented at the
National and international level:- Education, Fair political policies,
Punishments, Inter-Agency communication and collaboration, Detection systems
& Anti-terrorism acts.
Conclusion: Terrorism can deter
valuable life and resources of nation and therefore inhibit peace, economic
growth, and investments. There are various avenues through which terrorism
could exert effects at the microeconomic, macroeconomic and global levels. Our
research further provides that terrorism is more likely to hit the certain
industries and sectors, comprising of tourism, air, insurance and financial
markets. In general, terrorist incidents have a negative and significant impact
on G.D.P of a nation. However, statistics on terrorism in India has shown
declining trend over last few years. Policy designed to reduce terrorism has to
be fit for purpose. Conventional measures designed to reduce crime may not,
work effective in the case of terrorism. The emphasis needs to be placed on
prevention that in turn relies on, intelligence-based operations and on
alleviation of poverty, unemployment and injustice etc. At the same time, if
terrorism is caused by feelings of relative deprivation and a lack of political
voice, reducing terrorism depends on reducing poverty and income inequality and
creating greater democracy in formerly autocratic countries. However, while
such a broad policy direction is easy to delineate, the precise mechanisms
through which it may be achieved are much more difficult to define.
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