BOOK REVIEW Political violence vs terror in South Asia South Asia: The Spectre of Terrorism by P R Kumaraswamy and
Ian Copland (eds)
Reviewed by Sudha Ramachandran
This is a collection of essays by analysts within and outside the region on
various aspects of terrorism, ranging from its links with religion and the role
of madrassas (seminaries) to how South Asian governments both foster
terrorism and fight it.
In the introduction, P R Kumaraswamy draws attention to the dual approach that
South Asian governments have adopted towards terrorism, condemning it when it
happens within their own borders, while justifying it as a "freedom struggle"
or "jihad" when it happens outside.
South Asian countries supported national liberation movements in other parts of
the world. "By focusing solely on the political
demands of these movements, India and other South Asian countries bestowed a
kind of legitimacy upon their operational tactics - which sometimes included
terrorism," he points out in his essay "Terrorism in South Asia: The Changing
Trends". A similar approach was adopted by them in the region, he argues,
"where each country adopted the familiar 'freedom fighter' logic to explain and
justify" support to groups in the neighboring country that were using terrorist
tactics.
The
explosive growth of terrorism in South Asian countries and the fallout of the
September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US have forced them "to recognize
terrorism in its true colors". Any meaningful action to counter terrorism in
the region "must begin with governments accepting that terrorism, whatever its
root causes cannot be justified. Even genuine political grievances are no
excuse for terrorism," Kumaraswamy writes.
While national interest calculations appear to have prompted governments to
support terror groups in neighboring countries, "narrow political calculations
often resulted in parties and leaders adopting a benevolent attitude towards
terrorism and its perpetrators" within their countries, observes Kumaraswamy.
To illustrate this point, he draws attention to the covert support that India's
prime minister Indira Gandhi and her Home minister Zail Singh extended to Sikh
extremists in Punjab to keep Akali political influence under check.
How do governments in South Asia deal with armed uprisings? Two essays, one by
Rajesh Rajagopalan on "Force and Compromise: India's Counter-Insurgency Grand
Strategy" and the other by Washbir Hussain on "Ethno-Nationalism and the
Politics of Terror in India's Northeast" throw light on the way India has dealt
with insurgency and terrorism.
Rajagopalan provides an excellent overview of India's counter-insurgency
strategy, arguing that while the use of military force is an important
component of a counter-insurgency campaign, resolution of the conflict requires
a political settlement. This necessitates limiting the level of violence in a
counter-insurgency campaign. He points out that the intensity of violence in
counter-insurgency operations by the Indian armed forces has been "relatively
lower" than that unleashed by other armies. The Indian army has refrained from
using heavy artillery and aerial bombardment, making it easier for the
government and rebels to eventually compromise and reach a political
settlement.
While there have been several instances - the peace accord with the Mizo
National Front in 1985 is one example - where the government has taken
advantage of the space opened up by successful military operations against
rebels to hammer out a political solution, there are innumerable examples too
of the government contributing to the proliferation of terrorist groups through
what Hussain calls its "appeasement of extremism".
The state "is listening only to the voices of people holding guns", Hussain
writes. "It tends to reward the more violent separatist outfits, while closing
its eyes to the more subtle clamorings of groups pushing for autonomy within
the country's legal framework."
For instance, the government chose the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
(Isak-Muivah) to hold peace negotiations with over the "less militant" Khaplang
faction. Its approach, which appears then to be one of rewarding terrorism, is
encouraging more groups to put forward extreme demands backed by violence and
terrorism.
Several essays in the book explore links between religion and political
violence. Robert G Wirsing concludes in "Unholy Alliance: Religion and
Political Violence in South Asia" that "religion is often not the driver, or at
least not the primary driver" of the separatist conflict in Kashmir and the
Hindu-Muslim communal violence in India. The "real drivers", he says, "are more
secular than sacred in nature."
Maria Vicziany points out in her article "Understanding the 1993 Mumbai
Bombings: Madrassas and the Hierarchy of Terror," that while revenge for
anti-Muslim riots in 1992 was the main compulsion behind the blasts, the
profile of the 100 convicted in the blasts case indicates that neither
religious fanaticism nor pan-Islamic sentiment played a role in their
recruitment.
Examining the link between madrassas and terrorism, Vicziany argues that
while some madrassas in Pakistan have functioned as recruiting centers
for terrorism, the madrassa system as a whole has little direct
association with transnational terrorism. She points out that the
Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jamat-ud-Dawa attract middle-class professionals, not
the madrassa-educated. It is the curricula in Pakistan's government-run
schools that promote hatred of India and Hindus, as well as jihad and
martyrdom. "In the hierarchy of terror, the madrassas of South Asia rank
low in importance," she concludes.
However, Frederic Grare disagrees. In his article "The Evolution of Sectarian
Conflicts in Pakistan" he describes madrassas as the breeding ground of
sectarianism. Terror outfits like Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammed,
he says, originated in jihadi madrassas. The distinction between
sectarian and jihadi groups is fading, he writes, pointing to the growing
cooperation between them.
The link between increasing Islamization and extremism is examined by Sreeradha
Datta and Rasul Baksh Rais. While Rais traces how the growing Islamization of
Pakistan contributed to the marginalization of minorities like the Ahmadiyyas
and Christians and their subsequent targeting by radical Islamic groups, Dutta
describes the Islamization of Bangladesh as the "principal factor contributing
to the growth and sustenance of militancy" there.
The final chapter by Gamini Samaranayake, "Political Terrorism of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" (LTTE) provides a detailed account of the
LTTE's terrorist acts. Samaranayake fails to examine, however, why the LTTE
enjoyed support among Tamils despite its terrorist tactics.
The title of the book suggests that it is about terrorism. But several essays
deal with various forms of political violence in South Asia, rather than
terrorism per se. In the introduction, Kumaraswamy draws attention to the
"tendency among scholars to treat all forms of political violence as
terrorism". Unfortunately, in naming the book South Asia: The Specter of
Terrorism, he slaps the terrorist tag on a variety of forms of
political violence.
Rajagopalan's essay provides valuable insights into India's strategy to fight
insurgencies in northeast India. Does the government adopt a similar
politico-military strategy in fighting terrorism, especially, for instance,
when Pakistani terrorists are involved? What is its strategy against the
Lashkar-e-Toiba for instance? The book does not explore this.
The book throws light on the complex and complicated relationship between Islam
and political violence in South Asia. Individually, the essays in the book are
insightful. Some of them have been published elsewhere earlier.
What the book lacks, however, is a concluding chapter that would have tied
together the issues raised by the contributions of the various authors. In the
absence of such a concluding chapter, the book ends up a scattered effort.
Strangely, Kumaraswamy refers to a final chapter in the introduction to the
book that "looks at the changing debate in South Asia, and among South
Asianists, towards the phenomenon of terrorism". That chapter seems to have
failed to make it to the book for some reason.
South Asia: The Spectre of Terrorism by P R Kumaraswamy and Ian Copland
(eds). New Delhi: Routledge, May 2009. ISBN: 978-0-415-48321-6. Price US$13,
193 pages.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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The
explosive growth of terrorism in South Asian countries and the fallout of the
September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US have forced them "to recognize
terrorism in its true colors". Any meaningful action to counter terrorism in
the region "must begin with governments accepting that terrorism, whatever its
root causes cannot be justified. Even genuine political grievances are no
excuse for terrorism," Kumaraswamy writes.
