The recent terror attacks on Mumbai have once again thrown the spotlight on terrorism and especially islamic terrorism.No doubt the public is angry,Pakistan is becoming belligerent under pressure and onus is on the politicians to enact tougher anti terror laws and create a federal anti terror agency.But can the fight against terror be fought by strengthening the intel or creation of an anti terror law?These measures will give only short term relief against the tumour of terrorism;not the cure.We need to nip terrorism at the bud and for that we need to understand why terrorism had raised its head.
For that we need to understand the conditions of Muslims across the world and especially in India and Pakistan.Muslims live in a very miserable state in the world today.A vast mejority of them are very poor,earning very little and having a large family to feed.The prosperity that the Islamic world saw during the heydays of the ottoman empire is no longer seen these days.We have to understand that a terrorist is first of all,a human being.The confessions of Kasab says that he was very poor with no access to education or a decent standard of living.From the viewpoint of the islamic world the rest of the world especially the US and the west,along with India and china are becoming increasingly prosperous whereas they are languishing in poverty.It is in this context that Barack Obama's comments made during election time,that economically backward people become bitter and turn to guns or religion,comes into relevance.The muslims are bitter.Thats why they are being increasingly swayed by fanatical elements in their religion and are being coerced into believing that taking up arms and waging jihad is the only way thay can get 'haq' for their 'qom'.How many muslims do you see are highly educated?How many of them go to college?The majority of them dont even access to formal education;they get educated only in madrassas.They crave for the comforts and the resources and the riches as much as anyone else does;but they cant access them.Thats why they become bitter,and frustrated.When they see that others become doctors and engineers and move in cars whereas they have to ply rickshaws for a living,there is boung to be resentment somewhere.
Doesnt religion and ideology come in picture anywhere?I am sure it does.But if Muslims were as well educated and prosperous as the rest of the world,would religion and ideology take that great an importance that manking would be brought to the brink of jihad?No human being wants to be unhappy.Every one,Muslims included,want their children to have access to all amenities in life.They want to have good jobs with nice pay.Have access to cars,TV,entertainment without any worry for remaining hunger or half hungry.Everyone wants to be rich.Only when there is so much disparity that there develops resentment,anger and hatred.And to vent this religion and ideology become a tool.It becomes a medium to take out all ur resentment against others.These Pakistani terrorists attacked mumbai not because they were fanatics.It is because Pakistan(abetted by China)is jealous of India's growth.Thats why they are attacking places of commercial and economic interest.All the blasts that occurred in the last 2 years-Mumbai,Bangalore,Hyderabad,Jaipur,Delhi,Ahmedabad,Surat-have one thing in common:Economic powerhouses are being targetted.This struggle for economic resources under the garb of religious extremism has been occurring since time immemorial;At the time on independence there were inhuman riots between Hindus,Muslims and sikhs?Why.The real reason was greed.Muslims in Pakistan wanted to take over property of the Hindus and vice versa.So they turned upon each other.Whether it be attacks of Ghazni on Somnath temple or mongols on europe,the primary reason was to fill up the coffers.Fanatical,misguided people are there everywhere,but when someone is economically backward,he is liable to be easily swayed.
So the real solution doesnt lie in attacking al Qaeda terror camps or creation of a tougher anti terror law,but rather on creation of equitable opportunities in education and employment and enabling them to have a decent standard of living with happiness and for this the world has to take a concerted effort.When Bush attacked afghanistan in 2001,he was widely admired because hw brought hope and promise to the Afghans.But when he attacked Iraq,he was seen as a greedy capitalist intent of acquiring oil resources which rightfully belongs to iraqis.If we can give that hope,that promise to the muslims,without manipulating them like the politicians and even fulfill that hope a tiny percent,we can go a long way in combating terrorism.Let us at least instill in them confidence.Living a wretched life devoid of confidence and happiness is the worst thing that can happen to anyone,and let not this wretched snowball into jihad.
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2 comments:
When everybody is growing with the country then nobody will complain, but when a certain section left behind, then they start to grow by other ways and it doesn't matter for them that their ways are against to country or not. Because of economic disparity, they move towards the religion and following jihad. But if you see the recent attacks in India, in much of the attacks educated people were involved. Some of them were doctor, some of them were engineers. So how do they get brain washed? They are educated, they suppose to not influence by jihadis? I think education makes a logical mentality upto some extent after that it is depend on the individual’s mentality. So it is highly probable that educated people can be jihadis too.
Anyway you are correct up to some extent. Economic disparity is a root cause, if we come over of this, we can anticipate better future of India.
hi.
good post.
another thing that i would like to add is that some of the key elements behind all these attacks are in fact fantastically rich. So although we can claim that poor are more susceptible to get entrenched, it requires a more sophisticated mind than a poor man's to actually create this edifice of Jehadi sentiments. Education provides you logic but it cannot provide you the wisdom that is required so that we don't indulge in such mayhem.
Terrorism is one form of violence. War is another. Some of the most brilliant people of our generations have actually abetted wars. So, violence , jihad or of the other kind, may all be based on some notion of redemption etc and we require more than educational logic to deal with it. Logic, on the basis of its premises never gives us an unequivocal denial of War/Jihad; at least for all the wars that we have faced, I haven't seen any.
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