The Seoul Times

Terrorism is considered to be the biggest challenge facing the world today. The pattern emerging out of it clearly shows that most of the perpetrators of terrorist violence are either influenced by or owe their allegiance to one or another extreme ideology. The source of their inspiration is the radical demagogues and clerics. Clever and cheap minded extremists somehow manage to convince the people of their community that they are facing an “existential threat” from a certain community within their own country. And this way, they succeed in erecting a wall of hatred between the two communities. As a result, the nations have to suffer from various horrible terror attacks. It even leads to a sort of war between the two countries. Interestingly, the person executing such violence either blows himself up as a suicide bomber, or is killed in an encounter or get caught alive and hanged or imprisoned for life.

But those canny ‘intellectuals’, demagogues and fundamentalists who are indeed responsible for such acts, go scot-free. These clowns clandestinely support, advocate and perpetuate such insane acts. In the garb of a politician, social activist, godman etc., they are nothing but like a snake which keeps on replacing its outer shell. Such white-collared promoters of extremist ideology need to be timely dealt with so as to evade an impending catastrophe threatening the mankind.

Unfortunately, this tragedy of the spread of extremist ideology is not restricted to a single country or community. In fact, every religious group in the world is facing the scourge of this incoherent ideology. It has already isolated Pakistan to such an extent where other countries think twice before entering into an engagement with it. After the US, Pakistan’s all-weather ally China is also trying hard to make Pakistan act against its self-nurtured and sponsored terrorism. Terrorist groups in Pakistan which support different ideologies have ended up becoming bitter enemies of each other. As a result, large numbers of people are being killed in mosques, shrines, markets and government establishments in either suicide bombing or terrorist shootout. They killed a great lady like Benazir Bhutto. They did not even spare a guest cricket team. This ideological terrorism has today brought Pakistan on the verge of being declared a ‘terrorist state.’

On July 22, a person named Anders Behring Breivik, a religious chauvinist, killed over 80 people in a shootout and a simultaneous bomb blast in Oslo, the capital of Norway. This 32-years old guy is said to be against the idea of multiculturalism. It’s strange that a person owing allegiance to the Christianity, believes in opposing multiculturalism rather than following the ideals of love, peace, cooperation and brotherhood taught by the Jesus Christ. Jesus can never be his source of inspiration. This is clear by reading his 1500 page manifesto- “2083 – A European Declaration of Independence”- in which surprisingly India has also got a mention in 102 pages. Breivik seems to be very much inspired by the right-wing violent and communal Hindutva elements active in India. Gujarat riots and communal violence in other states of India is a matter of curiosity for Breivik. He also wants to lend his support to the Hindutva forces in their struggle. Calling himself a Christian, Breivik is even ready to resort to “acts of terrorism” to turn it into a “global war involving weapons of mass destruction”, to bring down what he calls “Cultural Marxist” order.

Similarly, there are many such chauvinists among the Muslims who spread prejudice among the people of the community by calling the Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism as ‘existential threats.’ Osama Bin Laden, Aiman Al Zawahiri, Mullah Umar, Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed etc. are among these self-proclaimed guards of Islam. In India too, people like Ashok Singhal, Praveen togaria, Aseemanand, Pragya Thakur and Col. Shrikant Purohit etc. take their inspiration from the hate spewing ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) which mislead their followers to such an extent that they are ready to kill anybody, anytime. Thus, we have to witness the shameful demolition of Babri Masjid, gruesome Godhra and Gujarat riots, bomb blasts in Mecca Masjid, Ajmer shrine, Malegaon and Samjhauta Express train which connects India and Pakistan. The hangover of same extreme ideology sometimes carries a person to a state where he doesn’t bother even if genocide is taking place under his patronage. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi is charged with similar crimes. But he doesn’t have any regrets for it. In fact, he takes pride in his alleged actions.

Recently, another armchair politician in India Subramaniam Swamy created furore when his controversial article was published in a national daily. A visiting professor in Harvard, Swamy is of the view that the Indian Muslims “who refuse to acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus, should not have voting rights.” Swamy fully supports the unfortunate demolition of Babri Masjid, which created a huge divide between the Hindus and the Muslims of the country. Speaking the language of the typical Hindutva elements, Swamy too calls “Islamic terrorism”, “India’s number one problem of national security.” Such an expression of intolerant and hateful mindset in the country of Paramvir Abdul Hameed, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Zakir Husain and the hon’ble Vice-President Hamid Ansari, has not come from any common person, rather a well-educated ‘anti-corruption crusader’ Subramaniam Swamy. That’s a different issue that upset over his venomous article, a majority of Harvard Alumni, faculty and guardians of students want the "Harvard administration to repudiate Swamy's remarks and terminate his association with the university." Such are the people responsible for spreading communalism, hatred, animosity and divide the society in the name of religion, thus breeding terrorism. Therefore, in order to save mankind, the need of the hour is to circumscribe such people with polluted minds.

Mr.Tanveer Jafri, who serves as contributing writer for The Seoul Times, is a noted columnist in India. He writes on a variety of issues including world peace, anti-terrorism, and national & international politics for numerous news dailies and portals in India. As a devoted social activist he is member of Haryana Sahitya Academy & Haryana Urdu Academy.