This century we all have witnessed a lot of unprecedented happenings that have changed the course of the history of this world. No doubt there have been a lot of advancements and achievements in every aspect be it technology, medical science or astronomy etc. Still, without any doubt, the most significant change of this century has been the emergence of terrorism as one of the pressing global issues. It has affected lives all over the world and has spoiled the world peace at a very alarming rate.
Terrorism has touched every country be it a developing country like India or a superpower like the United States of America as an example like that we saw in the case of 9/11 attack on the twin towers and the roots of terrorism are still growing. The world leaders have been compelled to spend billions of dollars to weed out the problem of terrorism, but there has been no concrete solution that the world has come too.
Nowadays, nobody seems to be safe in this world. Statistics show that there is no country in this world which is exceptional to terrorist attacks and so the countries try keeping their security high. However, still, thousands of innocent lives have been lost because of this obliteration of terrorism.
Origin of terrorism
The exact origin of terrorism is still unknown because of the multiple definitions that have been assigned to it till now. But still, the first use of terrorism in English occurred during the French Revolution‘s reign of terror when the Jacobin who ruled the revolutionary state had employed violence to win their cause. Millions were sent to death than in 1793 to 94.
The most prominent ideology that was linked with terrorism in those times of origin was anti-monarchism, budding nationalism in people and anarchism.
Present Global Scenario
Now, let’s talk about the present state of terrorism. There are multiple terror outfits like ISIS, Lakshar-e-Taiba, Al Qaeda, Quetela Shura, Indian Mujahedeen that are operating at a world level and propagating their frightful ideologies of terror and killing in the name of economic, cultural and religious differences.
Some terrorist organisations look at opportunities to cause harm to the UK and US in the garb of jihad; a holy war. Even Latin American countries like Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Mexico have seen their share of terrorist activities in recent years. Terrorist attacks in Madrid, London, Chechenya in Russia have a number of times among many others drawn special attention to the cruelty of this act.
Many names have become notorious because of the multiple attacks that have happened in the world. Names such as Maulana Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim, Osama bin laden etc. amongst many others have been held responsible for terror attacks on the globe.
Terrorism in context to India
Terrorism has touched every country be it a developing country like India as we saw in the case of Pulwama attack wherein a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed a truck which was explosively laden into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF) in which 40 military personnel were killed.
The main threat of terrorism to India is caused by its extremist groups of neighbouring nations Pakistan, Afghanistan and some groups of India itself. After the independence of the two nations from Britishers, Pakistan’s relation with India have been in continual trouble by a dispute over the divided territory of Kashmir.
This has caused significant damage to the property of Kashmir and has wrecked the Kashmir’s economy, which is majorly dependent on tourism and sale of handicrafts. It has also taken a lot of lives of Indian security force personnel. Both the countries, India and Pakistan, have suffered enormously by the casualties caused by terror wars.
Reasons behind terrorism
There are several ways in which terrorism has affected world peace, and we all must clearly understand as to know why are the countries spending so much to root out terrorism from their land. Well, to start with any terror attack affects countries foreign policies with other nations, including their land or sea neighbours or their trade partners. Therefore, building sentiments of disbelief in each other and fright among the countries.
A very apt example of countries like these are India, and it’s neighbouring country Pakistan. The two countries do not share a very cordial relation because of terror attacks that keep happening. Every time a terror attack happens, the two countries suddenly break their trade ties completely. This affects the mutual growth and creates a barrier for potential opportunities for both countries. In my opinion, had terrorism not been there then probably both the countries would have had a better understanding amongst themselves.
Terrorism disturbs the peace of the whole world and takes a lot of innocent lives. For any terror attack that is launched, terrorists have their ulterior motives, but the innocent citizens of the country pay the price for it, and god knows how many more will have to pay for it.
Although religion from decades has been a major reason behind terrorism, there are other reasons for terror attacks as well. Politically motivated reasons are also being used for terror attacks in these times. The saddest part about it is that these result into religious strives which disturb the harmony and peace amongst people belonging to various communities and religions and often result into riots and changes in policymaking for people belonging to a specific religion and this leads to hostility between communities. Due to all this, sometimes a particular religion gets targeted.
One another reason behind terrorism is a result of countries not being able to provide adequate means to the citizens of the country so that they can make it their ends meet. And this opportunity is used by the villainous and wrong elements of the society to corrupt and destroy the young nurturing minds to make them a part of the bigger strategy of theirs. They later tell those minds to threaten and kill people by giving them money. So, yes, terrorism also results because of the countries not being able to attain the desired potential because of several constraints.
Many countries are unable to spend a substantial portion of their GDP expenditure on necessary and important sectors like education and health because unfortunately, they have to spend a lot of their GDP on defence sector to ensure internal security and ensure that their borders are safe. In a country like India, it is not possible to ignore the troubled borders with its neighbours, and we cannot even ignore the internal security threats caused by the Naxalites. So a large amount of India’s GDP goes to the defence sector.
A Way out of Terrorism
To put an end to terrorism, it needs to be curtailed even before it starts and if it still exists, then it needs to be dealt with firmly when and if it actually comes. This step is important to maintain world peace.
The nations have realised that it is high time that they act together and so they have come together and are boycotting the nations who let terrorist outfits flourish and bud up. They are turning united against this serious problem and are decreasing their trade from the countries which allow terrorists bud up. So basically, countries are together working and cutting the funds for terrorism by reducing the purchase of oil and other items from countries that aid terrorist groups.
The UN peacekeepers and military forces of different countries are doing their best to solve this problem. And now even we all, the government and civilians all over the globe need to contribute to solve this problem and do our part towards it. We have to turn up into responsible citizens, act mature, aware and careful to win this fight against terrorism and strengthen the international counter-terrorism cooperation to ensure world peace.
‘Rome was not built in a day’ is an age-old adage which means that good things take time and so will the establishment of world peace. What we actually need to focus upon is that we need to stand together, united in order to wipe out terrorism and hatred from this world to make this world a safe and a better place to live in. Putting an end to terrorism is a mammoth task and definitely not an easy one, but we have to do this together and make this world terror-free.
Conclusion
Terrorism is a global threat, and the countries have recognised it, but they still need to work more on this issue to ensure that world peace is achieved. They need to work hard, and the countries need to come together to counter this issue of growing menace that is terrorism and need to stop the fright and bloodshed caused by violence. For this, every nation must collaborate, share its statistics pertaining to population, crimes etc. and reach consensus on how first to achieve a terror-free country and together make it a terror-free world.
Restoration of the world peace is the only lasting solution to several problems that hamper the nations on this planet Earth currently.
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