The evil of terrorism has come to be a present-day
affliction. It is widely condemned, but what
terrorism is has not yet been clearly defined. After a
great deal of thought on this subject, I have come to
the conclusion that terrorism is definable as armed
action carried out by non-governmental
organizations. Certainly, the public have the right to
peacefully present their point of view, but on no
consideration do they have the right to engage in
militancy, for armed movements of this sort run
counter to accepted national and international
principles. What is known as terrorism in present
times is the result of armed action by NGO’S.
Moreover, war can be waged only by an established
government. And even for an established
government there are a number of essential
conditions for launching armed campaigns. For
instance, it can only fight a defensive battle. It
cannot commit aggression. Similarly, even a lawful
war can be fought only after making a formal
declaration of war. There is no room for undeclared
war in civilized society. Then, even in a lawful
defensive battle, a government must issue strict
orders that only combatants may be attacked.
Killing or injuring non-combatants is not lawful
even in a state of war.
According to established humanitarian principles,
only one form of war is acceptable and that is one
waged unavoidably in self-defence. Any other kind
of war, for instance, aggressive war, proxy war,
guerrilla war, undeclared war–are all totally
unlawful according to international ethics. On no
consideration can these wars be held lawful.
According to the above definition, any movement
based on terrorism is certainly unlawful. It cannot
be justified simply by giving it a high-sounding
name. Any attempt to achieve human objectives by
engaging in terrorism, rather than using lawful
means to do so, is to transgress all bounds.
Modern terrorism must, therefore, be brought to an
end. But this cannot be done through counter
attacks. For one thing, this would be like trying to
quell non-state terrorism by state terrorism. And for
another, modern terrorism derives its strength less
from guns and bombs than from its ideology. That
is why a counter ideology rather than counter-
bombing would the more effectively put an end to
terrorism.
The terrorists’ self-styled ideology gives them the
conviction that, by dying in battle, they become
martyrs and that, as such, they will have a new and
far better life in paradise. It is this belief, which has
made suicide bombing totally acceptable to them.
Given this situation, it is only when their self-styled
ideology is shown to be baseless by producing a
counter ideology that their violent actions will ever
come to an end.
It should be appreciated, moreover, that the present
terrorists, many of them very young people, would
never be able to continue their efforts without the
vast monetary contributions, public sympathy and
adulation as heroes, which as “active militants”
they receive from “passive” militants, that is to say,
from those who are not actively engaged in violent
activities.
The passive militants are, so to speak, the second
line of terrorism. Their role is an important one, that
of providing infrastructure and logistic support. A
war can be successfully waged only if the supply
lines continue to provide all military requirements
without any disruption. If they were to be cut off,
war would automatically come to an end, just as a
man would die if his oxygen supply were stopped.
But, ideologically, passive militants regard it as
their duty to give full assistance to active terrorists.
And if such terrorists are in their thousands, the
number of their supporters runs into millions. This
being so, the annihilation of known active terrorists
would not suffice to put an end to the phenomenon
of terrorism.
It is essential, therefore, that the issue of the
enormous support given by the world-wide
network of passive terrorists be immediately
addressed. Their minds must be changed. Their
violent thinking must be transformed into pacifism.
Only then will it be possible to rid the world of the
menace of terrorism.
Ref -The Ideology of Peace
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
