Countering the Terrorist & The Government's Resolve

Shenali Waduge

There is much discourse as to how far media helps to elevate the desires of the terrorist. But for media their creative prowess is displayed by the fantastical nature of stories on terrorism they relay to the public.

Take a newspaper today, flick through the pages and rarely do we find anything to make us smile or laugh. All that stares us in the face is news of heinous crimes. With the emphasis given to terrorism globally it is no surprise that there is no clear definition to it. What one country regards as an act of terrorism turns out to be another’s act of friendship. If we can’t define terrorism then it becomes impossible to define who a terrorist is.

Ruber Ardila perhaps best sums up what terrorists really are:

usually young men (in very few cases women) – faceless people carefully programmed to destroy their enemy at all costs. They are well trained, educated, blindly obedient to authority, living in a time zone of fatalism, and totally dedicated to a religious-cultural ideology. Their attacks are not senseless violence; they require extensive training, professional, expertise, financial resources and networks of co-conspirators.

How can we really know what goes inside the mind of a terrorist? Studies into this can only take place if a terrorist is caught or if a terrorist actually gives himself up. In both these cases, he has lost the power he yielded and thus his true nature becomes difficult to fathom.

Crimes are rampant globally – there are robbers, thieves, murderers and the infamous underworld goons amongst us. What makes them and their acts different to a terrorist? Do they also not have the ability to instill fear amongst us?

Anger, frustration, helplessness, inferiority, self-esteem, hypnotic belief in religion, hidden anxieties, hatred of society are a few of the reasons that the learned world project as reasons to become a terrorist. But while different theories will continue to surface terrorists have become masters at beguiling those who indulge in such studies.

What makes a terrorist a terrorist is the extensive training given by the terrorist leadership who have mastered the art of desensitizing & removing all moral obligations they may have. Religion has become or rather been turned into a tool to facilitate this change in a person or groups of persons.

The fact that we are dealing with people makes it all the more difficult to promote a single solution to the terrorist problem. Annihilation through military means is an easy but extremely difficult option to pursue. The cost factor and the human factor (the Armed Forces as well as the Terrorists) weighs heavily on any Government that resolves to take the path towards military glory. America’s crusade against terrorism has only left thousands of American soldiers dead or disfigured and countless families wondering “why”.

Given the human aspect to terrorism and that each and every terrorist is likely to have his/her own reasons to becoming a terrorist a single blueprint is not likely to work.

The domino effects of being in a terrorist network create plenty of economic plusses for the terrorist. Cash overflow, whims and desires fulfilled at short notice, dictating terms to the VVIPs of society, the power of instilling fear in the eyes of one’s enemy are some of the perks that come with the job of being a terrorist. From having nothing to bathing in such luxuries is something very few terrorists would want to give up. Yet, as long as there are those who may one day wake up and realize the futility of the life they lead there can still be some hope.

For Governments of the world who have to deal with terrorists and terrorism, the only message is that a single solution to terrorism is like “Waiting for Godot”. If Governments are honest enough to want to cleanse its country of any terrorist element it must first “isolate” terrorism from the “networks” (international & local) that are associated with it and then draw up a plan to target the human aspect of changing people who turn into terrorists.

Many a Government has been guilty of using terrorism for its survival without realizing its ability to transgress into something they will one day have no control over. Such has been the fate of Sri Lanka. Simple grievances that could have been sorted out were never important enough to earn the attention of the Administrators. Even today Government circulars are sent in Sinhalese to a Tamil who does not know a single word of Tamil, Police offices throughout the country do not have men to take down in Tamil a grievance by a Tamil. Surely, these are simple things that can be easily corrected. Why should we create a wrath for easily correctable problems? The negligence of simple issues has today, been turned into global issues to which Sri Lanka’s leaders have no answer to.

What the public simply asks of the LTTE is “list the grievances – put them down one by one” and from the Government “make all proposals to solve these grievances public information” and no secret deals that would sacrifice the integrity of the nation.

If any Government is democratically elected to power it is because the people have voted them in and this gives the people every right to know the decisions taken by its leaders.