Can Care and Compassion—Be the Ultimate Solution of Terrorism?

Abstract

Like a number of serious problems in our world terrorism is also one of them. Now what do we mean by; ‘terrorism’? It is a political phenomenon, where violence and bloodshed are brought upon the innocent citizens in order to shaken up the Government as it exploits the so-called terrorists. This is a set up which runs parallel with the main stream to devastate the main stream, in a secretive or clandestine method. Thus any violent bloodshed such as killing in robbery or insurgency cannot be called terrorism as there either the cause is not political as in case of killing in robbery; or common men are not targeted as in case of insurgency (although its cause is political). Again Guerilla tactic although is a clandestine or secretive method still it is not terrorism as here the units of the Government, that is innocent citizens are not killed. Revolution also involves violence but unlike terrorism it gains public support.  The terrorists claim that they are actually waging a war against the Government, but in a war certain just rules are followed which states that proportionality between the means and end should be maintained, there should be a legitimate authority waging a war, it goes on within a particular territory, it should have a consistent success rate and most importantly it protects the immunity of the innocent mass. But in terrorism such rules of just war are lacking. Thus terrorism is a political violence between the mighty and the weak, for which it can also be called a class struggle or power struggle, where the weak sect shake the mighty by attacking upon those who are part and parcel of the mighty. This ‘ism’ is thus different from war, insurgency, revolution, crime and guerilla tactic because of its distinct feature that it does not attack its direct victim but attacks its indirect victim. In other words instead of destroying the Government which is guilty to them it attacks the innocent citizens of the Government because they are the units of the Government. Thus if the part is destroyed then the whole would automatically be shaken up. This unique mentality is found only in this ‘ism’ thus it differs from all other instances of violence. Terrorism is of two types—Terrorism from Above and Terrorism from Below. The former is also known as ‘State Sponsored Terrorism’ where the state is found to torture its citizens. The latter is termed ‘Non-State Terrorism’ where the exploited lot terrorizes the state for having been oppressed by it for years. The Non-State Terrorism is formed by the private parties such as Al Qaeda, Aum Shinrikyo, Maoists of India and so on.