Prof. Aurobindo Mazumdar
(amzghy@gmail.com)
The present on-going Israeli-Palestinian Hamas war has once again reminded us of the necessity of delinking religion from terrorism. Because it is not a war in the proper sense, it is a war between two religious groups; one attacked the other co-religious people. The race-pride is a cause of cleavage between man and man that finds in religious zeal and orthodox aggression a convenient outlet. The murder and kidnapping of children, making common men and women pawns of the terrorists, the Holocaust, and genocide are unfolding the Israel-Hamas war every day. It shows the inhumanity of a racial and religious war. Such is the testament of cruelty; never again should it happen.
We need to delink religion from terrorism to isolate terrorists who use this interchange of arguments between terrorism and religion. The terrorism should not be looked at based on the nameplates, which group they belong to, what their geographical location is, or who the victims are. The groups, as they exist today, would mutate and remerge under different names. As a victim of terrorism since the 1980s, it was India that ratified the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) 26 years ago in 1996, but which even now is pending before the United Nations for a lack of consensus on the definition of terrorism. The September 11, 2001, terror attack on the United States caused a change in attitude towards terrorism, and discussions on the convention began with some seriousness in 2002. The CCIT once again came into focus after the 2005 London bombings, when then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on member states to pass the convention. While most member states of the UN agreed that the CCIT was one of the most comprehensive proposed treaties against terrorism, covering subjects ranging from hijacking and hostage-taking to terrorist bombings and funding for terrorism, the difference between nations on the definition of terrorism has remained a most basic issue.
Making a strong pitch for delinking terrorism from religion, Prime Minister Modi has asserted in the UN General Assembly that a global response is required to effectively combat international terrorism propagated by outfits like the Islamic State (IS). During the bilateral meeting with his counterparts, Prime Minister Modi raised the issue of delinking terror from religion. Modi told the G20 leaders that the world must speak in one voice and act in unison against terrorism without any political considerations. As the spectre of terrorism and religious hatred raises its ugly head across the world, particularly in those cherished cities of history, it is time once again to reach back in time and redeem the essence of our civilizational spirit.
The Organisation of Islamic Conferences (OIC) and the League of Arab States are of the view that the treaty should exempt from consideration as terrorists all those engaged in conflicts against ‘foreign occupation’. According to this argument, Palestinian Hamas are freedom fighters. But some of the Arab League countries, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, differed in some aspects of their views of the League and maintained some diplomatic relations with Israel.
But it is an undeniable fact that terrorists use the name of religion to draw people to their cause. There are many instances where issues of religion are regularly invoked by the leaders of violent campaigns and used to motivate their followers. Osama bin Laden’s various diatribes referring to ‘holy duties’ and ‘Caliphates’ contain numerous claims about straightforward political grievances, such as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and the Israeli military’s policing and political persecution of Palestinian people; claims about past and present Western support for Middle-eastern dictatorships and Western exploitation of Middle-eastern assets, such as oil; the United States’ historic deployment of troops throughout Arab lands; and the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Like Osama bin Laden, the terror groups in Pakistan, which is the sanctuary of several terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba, regularly spread hatred against India. All the terrorist groups in Pakistan use religion for their terrorist activities against India. Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has reworked its priorities to focus more on unleashing unbridled violence on hapless civilians, including the killing of religious and ethnic minorities.
The violence against civilians has all along been executed in waves, and its recent spurt is gaining momentum in Jammu and Kashmir. The legacy of such hatred originated in Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s sinister strategy to ‘bleed India through a thousand cuts’ which gave form to Bhutto’s promise of a thousand-year war. At that time, provocative statements made by both Bhutto and Zia were not mere rhetoric but formed the core of a warfighting strategy that sought to use terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Today, this facet of Pakistan’s foreign policy remains a key component of its ideology and the very raison d’être for its existence. Thus began the era of cross-border terrorism, with Pakistan pushing in armed and well-trained groups of terrorists into India. Pakistan referred to these terrorists as ‘freedom fighters’ and claimed that they were only providing moral support to such groups, but the truth tumbled out when a Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) told the Pakistan National Assembly that the ISI had been sponsoring such support in Kashmir.
One cannot afford to ignore the dangers of radicalization and indoctrination. Several barbaric attacks like those in Paris and Mali and the bombing of a Russian aircraft stress that the shadow of terror stretches across our societies and our world, both in recruitment and choice of targets.
What is most important is that it cannot be done without equally addressing the violence in our minds, a poison that has been spread by terror groups, harnessing the power of modern technology and social media platforms to infect our youth with ideologies and beliefs that regard one’s own brother as a stranger and one’s own mother as accursed. The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not. Terrorists use religion but inflict harm on people of all faiths. Those who believe that silent sponsorship of such terrorist groups can bring rewards must realise that they have their own agenda; they are adept at using the benefactor more effectively than the sponsor.
It should be ensured that no country promotes terrorism, there is no sanctuary, there are no funds, and there are no arms. Besides, the Internet must not become a recruiting ground for terrorism. We have to delink religion from terror. The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not. We also have to work within society, especially the youth. The world needs to come together to use military force and international legal systems to fight terror, pitching for a concerted global effort. As the spectre of terrorism and religious hatred raises its ugly head across the world, particularly in those cherished cities of history, it is time once again to reach back in time and redeem the essence of our civilizational spirit.
As we all know, India has given shelter to Jews, Zoroastrians, and Syrian Christians. The Jews have lived for many centuries on the west coast and are now centred in Bombay. Zoroastrians, now generally known as Parses, according to the Parses’ own traditions, settled first at Diu in Saurashtra and then at Thana near Bombay in the early 8th century. The Syrian Christians came to India, leaving their home. India had given them shelter. There were also important waves of immigration of Persian Christians to India, one in the 4th century and the other in the 9th, who settled in Kerala.
Thus, India is not only the home of Hinduism and Buddhism; many other major world religions also found their way to India. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism also have a place in India, but unlike the faiths mentioned above, they all came to India from outside the country. So India is thickly strewn with temples, mosques, churches, and Buddhist pagodas in many places, particularly densely populated places. India’s model of unity in diversity offers an example for the world. We in India have citizens who belong to every existing faith. Our mantra is unity in diversity. Where do you find such a nation where people with so many customs, so many languages, so many cultures, and so many religions have lived together peacefully for centuries?