CSB IAS Academy Contact No: 8374232308

CSB IAS ACADEMY

TERRORISM
Background
The terrorists are opposed to the very idea of India; they want to destroy its icons and its
symbols. They have been repeatedly causing explosions in Delhi because it is the political
capital of India; they have been repeatedly attacking Mumbai because it is the commercial
hub of the country; they have been perpetrating incidents of violence in places like
Ayodhya and Varanasi because these are the holiest places of the Hindus; they have been
active in Bangalore because it is the IT hub of the country. In other words, they want to
destroy India politically, economically, and culturally.
Statements
• PM attends third 'No Money for Terror' Ministerial Conference on Counter-
Terrorism Financing in New Delhi, Nov,2022

• Paris-2018

• Melbourne- 2019

• “We consider that even a single attack is one too many. Even a single life lost is one
too many. So, we will not rest till terrorism is uprooted”

• “There is no good terrorism and bad terrorism. It is an attack on humanity, freedom

and civilization.

• It knows no boundaries”, Only a uniform, unified and zero-tolerance approach can

defeat terrorism.”

• In the 11th BRICS (Shangai, China) Summit in Brazil (2019) ,

• Prime Minister Modi said terrorism has emerged as the biggest threat to development,
peace and prosperity and it caused a $1 trillion loss to the world economy.

• Terrorism is at TRANSNATIONAL global crime and has become a very important

topic of debate at the global level. The affairs of the world are influenced by the grave
threat of terrorism
INDEX
• As per 2018 Global Terrorism Index released by the Institute for Economics and Peace,
India remains the top 10 most worst affected countries globally. India is surrounded
by hostile nations, which are considered as the hotbed of terrorist activities.

• The report on the Global Terrorism Index 2020 says that "Defining terrorism is not a
straightforward matter. There is no single internationally accepted definition of what
constitutes terrorism, and terrorism.

• This is because the meaning and interpretation of terrorism changes from region to
region and with passage of time(spatially and temporally)

Controversy in Defining Terrorism

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• The difficulty in defining “terrorism” is in agreeing on a basis for determining when

the use of violence (directed at whom, by whom, for what ends) is legitimate;
therefore, the modern definition of terrorism is inherently controversial.

• The use of violence for the achievement of political ends is common to state and non-
state groups.

• The majority of definitions in use has been written by agencies directly associated
with government and is systematically biased to exclude governments from the
definition of terrorism.

• USA has been accused of terrorism by backing Israeli occupation in Middle East, but
also supporting other repressive regimes like Taliban for political gains.

• The most apt example for this is of Taliban, which was termed a terrorist organisation
alter the 9/11,11 Sep,2001 attacks(USA terror list) but situation changed in August
2021(after 20 years) when it formed Govt in Afghanistan

• TALIBAN AS REVOLUTIONARY GROUP---USA

• Palestine militants calls Israel as terrorist

• Kurdish militants calls Turkey as terrorists

• Pakistan militants calls India as terrorists

• Tamil militants call SL terrorist;

• Like, beauty, terrorism lies in the eyes of be-holder

Ambiguity
• Being unable to, or having difficulty in, distinguishing terrorism from guerrilla war or
national independence

• Avoidance of the notion of word terrorism/terrorist and use the notion of a freedom-
fighters, part riots, liberator, ‘god’s servant’,

• etc like Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah like

• a ‘terrorist’ in one country may be viewed as a ‘freedom fighter’ in another;

• We see ourselves as muji-hadeen [holy warriors] who are fighting a Holy War for the
people

• Changing nature and evolution of terrorism

• ecoterrorism, bioterrorism, cyberterrorism, nuclear-terrorism

• Terrorist groups’ community development activities demonstrate a link between

insurgency and extreme poverty—WB

• For instance, Hamas spends most of its resources providing social, cultural, welfare
and educational activities for the Palestinian people

• Taliban built madrassas to offer free education to poor children in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.

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AIS NOT IN
PAKISTAN
GTI, 2022
INDIA RANKS 12TH

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Definition
• The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 (amended in 2008)-

• India’s ‘Anti- terror law' defines a Terrorist act as "Whoever does any act with
intent to threaten or likely to threaten the unity, integrity, security, economic
security or sovereignty of India or with intent to strike terror or likely to strike
terror in the people or any section of the people in India or in any foreign country.

• Terrorism- Terrorism is the planned, organized, and systematic use of violence as

a means of coercion for political, religious and ideological purposes.

Forms of terrorism
• Insurgency and Naxalism and militancy
CLASSIFICATION OF TERRORISM
• Terrorism by External State Actors

• When any government directly or indirectly indulges in terrorism against its own
people or the people of another country, it is referred to as terrorism by state actors.

• Therefore, Pakistan which is an external state actor is challenging India’s internal

security directly as well as indirectly.

• Many important terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Indian

Mujahideen (IM) offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India also claim to
be non-state actors but have de facto support from Pakistan(degree of deniability)
ISI MODUS OPERANDI(METHODS)
1. To bleed India with a thousand cuts
2. destabilise Indian economy through fake currency
3. supply arms and explosives to all kinds of militants in India
4. spread communal hatred and communal violence in India to DIVIDE AND WEAK
INDIA
Terrorism by Non-state Actors
• In this case, the act of terrorism is performed by an individual or a group which is
not associated with or financed by any Government.
• Naxalites, LTTE and North-east extremists are some examples of non-state actors.

CATEGORISATION OF TERRORISM IN INDIA

1. Hinterland terrorism(1970)
2. Jammu and Kashmir militancy(1940’s)
3. North-East insurgency(1950)
4. Left-Wing extremism(1967)
(ANTI-SOCIAL VS ANTI-NATIONAL)
• Out of these, the last two do not have direct linkages with external state actors.

• Terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir is due to Kashmir’s historical background.

• Terrorism in Kashmir is a direct manifestation of state policy of Pakistan and ISI
influence,

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• Hinterland terrorism (Terror strikes by groups in regions other than the border
areas are often described as terrorism in the hinterland.) by Indian Mujahideen or
SIMI is indirectly supported by ISI and the state of Pakistan.
• Indian Mujahideen was formed to showcase that terrorism is indigenous rather
than cross border.

Society prepare the crime and criminal commits it.

1. TERROR FINANCING
2. CYBER CURRENCY
3. MONEY LAUNDERING AND HAWALA
4. CHARITABLE TRUST AND NGO

TYPES OF TERRORISM
• Eighth Report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) says
that terrorists are motivated by different goals and objectives
• 1) State-sponsored Terrorism-why choose state sponsored terrorism? Large
warfare and political and economic costs and UN organization economic
sanctions... to escape state sponsored Countries like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya North
Korea
• India has been facing this problem from Pakistan off late.
• It is initiated to obtain certain clearly defined foreign policy objectives rather than
grabbing media attention or targeting the potential audience.
• State support- Ideological, Financial and Military Support
2) Ethno-Nationalist Terrorism
• Ethno-nationalism is defined as the desire of a group of persons having a separate
unique ethnic identity to disassociate themselves from the existing government
and form a new nation with the help of terrorist organizations and terror
activities.
• Such violence usually focuses either on the creation of a separate State.
• North East India are examples of ethno-nationalist terrorist activities
• Khalistan movement
• Another example is Hamas with the objective of creating a separate state i.e.
Palestine.
3) Religious Terrorism- Present-day terrorist activities around the world are
motivated largely by religious imperatives. For example, ISIS’s main agenda of
creating Caliphate under Islamist ideology
4) Ideology Oriented Terrorism- Any ideology can be used to support the use of
violence and terrorism.
• Ideology oriented terrorism is generally classified into two: Left-wing and Right-
wing terrorism
• Left-wing Terrorism- Leftist ideologies believe that all the existing social
relations and state structures in the capitalist society are exploitative in character
and a revolutionary change through violent means is essential
• The Maoist groups in India and Nepal are the most easily identifiable groups closer
home.
5) Right-wing Terrorism
• Right-wing groups generally seek to maintain the status quo or to return to some
past situations that they feel should have been conserved.
• for example, the Nazi Party in Germany.(AL QUEDA )

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6) Nuclear Terrorism
• An attack on Nuclear installations is equivalent to Chernobyl disaster in USSR,
1986
7) Narco-terrorism
• a new method of terrorist, Indian pollution impact, 10pct or more, unproductive,
social disharmony,
• It is the attempt by narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of the Government
by systematic threat or use by violence. As the term itself suggests, narcoterrorism
combines two criminal activities; drug trafficking and terrorist violence.
• Islamist terrorist groups in India supported by the Pakistan ISI are reported to be
active in drug trafficking along the Kashmir Valley and also in other parts of the
country, for example,
• Lashkare-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad etc.

Bio-Terrorism
• Recently, United Nations (UN) declared that it is not aware of any biological
weapons programmes in Ukraine amid Russia’s claims that the US is funding
“military biological activities” in Ukraine.
8) Bio-terrorism
• Bioterrorism is a planned and deliberate use of pathogenic strains of
microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, or their toxins to spread life-threatening
diseases on a mass scale in order to devastate the population like Anthrax, Plague,
Small-Pox etc
9) Cyber-Terrorism
10) Economic terrorism is yet another dimension of international terrorism that the
country has to contend with.
• Pakistan has been flooding the country with counterfeit currency with a view to
subverting its economy and funding terrorist activities in different parts of the
country.
• It is estimated that Pakistan pumped in 16 billion worth of FICN into India in 2010,
a figure that rose to 20 billion in 2011 and 25 billion in 2012.
• URBAN TERRORISM—RELATIVELY NEW IN SOUTH ASIA
• REASONS
• EASY TARGETS
• SCOPE OF ANONYMITY
• AVAILABILITY OF LOGISTICS
• ATTACKING CREDIBILITY OF GOVT
• EASY RECRUITMENT
• VULNERABILITY DUE TO INTERNET
• 1993 MUMBAI BLAST
• PARLIAMENT ATTACK, 2001
• DELHI BOMBS, 2005

CAUSES OF TERRORISM
• Economic Deprivation..draw world map
• “The poverty is the parent of revolution and crime
• The world’s most dangerous nations are also among the poorest as per GTI
• Terrorism is perpetrated by poverty; it is generally seen that violent terror
activities are fuelled due to excessive poverty as the people who

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• feel deprived of economic resources are easily motivated to spread terror activities
in return of monetary benefit and propensity toward
• Terrorism has been found in groups that live below the poverty line.
• The more important factor of terrorism is a disparity in the distribution of resources.
• Feelings of deprivation that are caused by being unemployed or the fear of
unemployment can lead to extremist thoughts in people, thereby inviting them to
engage in terrorist activities.
• Naxalism /LWE due to economic causes

Religious fundamentalism and Radicalism

• Fundamentalists and conservatives reject changes which they consider
threatening to their religion and tries to establish old order by force.
• The terrorist attacks based on religion are more dangerous in nature than other
types of terrorism.
• For example, ISIS’s religious appeal entices the young people by saying that they
would be a reward, after death by God and make them ready for a suicide
bombing which is harder to defend.
• In Punjab, some Sikh groups as a means chose terrorism to create an independent
state called Khalistan based on Sikh religion.
• In J&K, Muslims belonging to different organisations chose terrorism as a means
for the creation of an independent Muslim nation.
• Not required
• Many groups of people came from their homeland to other countries for
employment or education and ultimately settled there.
• Many times, they face discrimination from the original citizens of the countries
where they shifted. 9/11 terrorist attacks, in the USA, is the best example of this
type of terrorism.
• The persons involved in this attack were migrant Muslims, who went to Germany,
from their native nation, for their education. They felt discriminated in Europe
and they created a terrorist group with other conservative individuals and attacked
in the USA on 9/11. Due to discrimination, they became discontented and angry
with society
Social Grievances
• Social differences, Socio-religious discrimination, stratification in the society
which ultimately leads to the creation of fault lines and racial unrest or division
on ethnic lines have sometimes led to violent activities, that can be categorized as
terrorism
• Sense of Injustice/ Alienation/ Discrimination
• A group may turn to arms while demanding social justice and can spread terror in
an area.
• This makes deprived people a potent terrorist recruit.
• For eg., Mumbai 26/11 attack terrorists belonged to backward strata of the society.

Role of Technology
• Greater technological penetration has helped in the spread of terror activities,
through sophisticated means of communication and platforms on social media or
through dark-web where the privacy barrier creates the government not to be able
to enforce the perpetrators

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• Social media is one of the most widely used media by terrorist organizations to
communicate with people in far-flung areas, indoctrination of youth and spread of
fundamentalism.
• Al-Qaeda has been noted as being one of the terror groups that use social media
the most extensively. A wider audience can be targeted this way
• A study by University of Haifa,Israel, found nearly 90% of organized terrorism
activities on the internet takes place via social media platforms like Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube, and internet forums to spread their messages, recruit
members and gather intelligence.
Challenges in dealing with Terrorism
• No clear definition- Definition of Terrorism is still unclear at the global level
• Transnational issue- Terrorist of one country can be considered as heroes in other
countries, thus it becomes very challenging to curb terrorism when such terrorist
gets support from other countries.
• Absence of cooperation- There has been low cooperation between various
international organizations like United Nations Security Council, Financial Action
Task Force, Financial Intelligence Units, and the Egmont Group, in the prevention,
detection and prosecution of illegal fund flow of terrorists.

Ideological Fight and rapid spread of misinformation

• Terrorism is considered to be a law and order issue rather than an ideological
problem, the misinformation spread on the internet
• NCRB data: 214% rise in cases relating to fake news, rumours.
Terror finance
• Terror finance and equipment support from Pakistan and terrorist bodies
functioning from its soil, drug trafficking in India makes it very challenging to end
such terror acts
• TF IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF TERRORISM
• DRAW THE PLI AND TF
• As per the estimates of Forbes, the top 10 richest terror organisations has roughly
40 billion dollars
Drain of Economic resources
• While dealing with terrorism a lot of state’s economic resources are used which
reduces the financial capacity of the state to spend on social and economic sectors
• According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international think tank,
violence cost the country nearly $1.2 trillion (₹80.1 trillion) in constant exchange
rates, or 9% of its GDP in 2017. This equates to roughly ₹40,000 for every person in
India.

Ideas to counter Terrorism

Prevent Pursue
To stop people becoming terrorist or To stop terrorist attacks
supporting terrorism
Protect Prepare
To strengthen our protection against a To mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack
terrorist attack

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INDIA’S STEPS TO COUNTER TERRORISM

LEGISLATIVE MEASURES
• Terrorism as an offence does not figure in the Indian Penal Code of 1860 as
amended from time to time.

• In India, the first special law which attempted to define terrorism was the Terrorist
and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987, which was followed by the
Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA).

• With the repeal of the latter in 2004, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967
was amended to include the definition of a ‘terrorist act’.

• Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 was an anti-terrorism

law which was in force between 1985 and 1995 under the background of the Punjab
insurgency and was applied to whole of India and lapsed in 1995.

• Sanjay Dutt, who was accused under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act (TADA) for keeping illegal weapons that led to Bomb blast in
Mumbai.

• Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) was an Act passed by the Parliament of
India in 2002, with the objective of strengthening anti-terrorism operations.

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• The Act was enacted due to several terrorist attacks that were being carried out in
India and especially in response to the attack on the Parliament in 2001 by LET .

• POTA replaced Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA)

(1985–95). The Act was repealed in 2004.

• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, was amended in 2008, defines a

‘terrorist act’ thus: whosoever, with intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security
or sovereignty of India or to strike terror in the people or any section of the people
in India or in any foreign country.

• 2004 amendment: It added 'terrorist act' to the list of offences, to ban organisations
for terrorist activities.

• 2019 amendment: The amendment empowers the Central Government to

designate individuals as terrorists on certain grounds.

• It empowers the Director-General, National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant

approval of seizure or attachment.

• The National Security Act of 1980(Amended in 2019)

• The National Investigation Agency is an apex anti-terror agency, and Investigative

agency matching the best international standards.

• Under the National Investigation Agency Act, the NIA can investigate offences
under Acts such as the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act, 1967.

• The agency can now investigate offences related to

1. human trafficking,
2. counterfeit currency,
3. manufacture or sale of prohibited arms,
4. cyber-terrorism,
5. offences under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908.

• It has the power to probe outside India also.

FINANCIAL MEASURES
• Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) network is one of the channels of terror
financing in India.

• FICN Coordination Group (FCORD) has been formed by the Ministry of Home
Affairs to share intelligence/information among the security agencies of the
states/centre to counter the problem of circulation of fake currency notes.

• NOT TO BE TAKEN IN CLASS

• Aspirational District Scheme-Ministry of Home Affairs has been tasked with the
monitoring of Aspirational districts programme in 35 LWE affected districts and
Kashmir and other backward districts in India and aims to quickly and effectively
transform these districts.

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• INSTITUTIONAL MEASURES: 4 major role of anti-terrorist agencies

• Intelligence gathering-The primary role of intelligence collection is played by the

state police and the central government agencies.

• NATGRID and MAC (Multi-Agency Centre) formed after 26/11 have been
instrumental in being a force multiplier.

• Training and operations-Training, equipment etc availability of the state police

forces have been limited, central forces (CAPF) have been getting attention
regarding modernisation since the past few years only and major scope for
improvement exists.
Investigations-NIA
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
• India’s push for CCIT-India proposed a draft document on the Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the UN in 1996 but it has not
been adopted as there is no unanimity on the definition of terrorism among the
member states.

• FATF (FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE)- The Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) is the Global Terror Financing Watchdog to measures for combating
money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of
the international financial system.
UN Global Counter-Terrorism Coordination Compact-
• The framework is an agreement between the UN chief, 36 organizational entities,
the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the World
Customs Organization to better serve the needs of member states when it comes
to tackling the scourge of international terrorism.

• Prime Minister Modi also called on the SCO (SHANGHAI COOPERATION

ORGANISATION) member states to cooperate under the SCO Regional Anti-
Terrorist Structure (RATS) against terrorism where he said that countries
sponsoring, aiding and funding terrorism must be held accountable as he called
for a global conference to combat the menace.

• All central Asian countries-(Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan)-

Turkmenistan + RIC + PAKISTAN
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FIGHT TERRORISM?
• New comprehensive laws can be brought in to address needs of counter terrorism
in 21s century,

• A no-tolerance policy towards terrorism should be adopted and implemented.

• Stringent laws should be applied and fast track courts should dispose of cases
efficiently and in time bound manner.

• Centre and states should continue with their coordinated efforts where Centre
should play a supportive role with state police forces taking the lead in fighting
the menace of terrorism.

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• Development is the antidote to terrorism. Education, skill development,

employment avenues along with physical and social infrastructure should be
prioritised in underdeveloped and remote regions. Mainstreaming the vulnerable
sections would help in rooting out terrorism.

• Media plays an important role in awareness generation and Social media

platforms should be self-regulated and monitored.

• Police and Intelligence Network- Strengthening the state police and intelligence
network, enhancing their training facilities and ensuring the availability of
modern equipment for investigation, surveillance and operations when the time
comes.

• Terror Funding- Government should take necessary steps to cut terror financing
coming locally or from outside as it acts as the lifeblood of terrorists.

• Creation of NCTC- National Counter Terrorism Centre’s concept came up after

26/11 attack where several intelligence and operational failures revealed the
necessity for federal agencies with real-time intelligence inputs which can prove to
be of actionable importance, specifically to counter-terrorism acts.

• NCTC would act as an apex body with a single effective point of control for all
measures related to counter-terrorism. NCTC was based on the American and
British administrative models.

• Q1. The scourge of terrorism is a grave challenge to national security. What solutions
do you suggest to curb this growing menace? What are the major sources of terrorist
funding? (UPSC 2017)

• Q2. "Terrorism is emerging as a competitive industry over the last few decades."
Analyze the above statement. (UPSC 2016)

• Q3. Indian Government has recently strengthened the anti-terrorism laws by

amending the unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967 and the NIA act.
Analyze the changes in the context of prevailing security environment while
discussing the scope and reasons for opposing the UAPA by human rights
organizations. (UPSC 2019)

• Q4. Analyse the complexity and intensity of terrorism, its causes, linkages and
obnoxious nexus. Also suggest measures required to be taken to eradicate the
menace of terrorism. (UPSC 2021)

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