What kills terror? Politics & policing
Policing involves surveillance , infiltration, electronic taps, tracking money trails and other such sleuthing methods.
By Subodh Varma, TNN |
How can terrorism be defeated? This billiondollar question is haunting policy makers and the common man alike, after a widening spiral of terrorist strikes in India has left city after city wounded, and the authorities groping.
Although the air is thick with allegations and political bickering, some lessons can be learnt from the worldwide experience of tackling terrorist groups.
A recently released study has compiled a database of 648 terrorist groups operating any time between 1968 and 2006 across the world. It showed that 404 of these terrorist groups had wound up their activities, while only 244 remained active. The study was done by RAND Corporation, a conservative American think tank. So, how and why did the majority of the terrorist groups get finished off ?
The findings of the study reveal a stark fact: of the terrorist groups that ended their activities, 43% were involved and coopted in a political process and 40% of them were exposed and apprehended by policing methods. Policing involves surveillance , infiltration, electronic taps, tracking money trails and other such sleuthing methods.
Among the successful examples are the arrest of members of terrorist groups like the Liberation Front of Quebec in Canada, and various black liberation or white supremacist groups in the US. Cooption into the political process and giving up of arms was seen in the case of Renamo in Mozambique and the April 19 movement in Colombia.
Only 7% of the groups were finished by the use of force, as in the case of Tupamaros in Peru, which was wiped out in a bloody military slaughter. About 10% of the groups wound up after achieving their stated goals.
In making these calculations, the 136 groups that splintered were not counted among finished terrorist groups, because it was found that often their members joined some other active terrorist group. This happens especially when the groups are competing for the same resources and outside support, as in the case of Pakistan-based groups like Jaish and Lashkar.
(Courtesy: Timesofindia.com)
Although the air is thick with allegations and political bickering, some lessons can be learnt from the worldwide experience of tackling terrorist groups.
A recently released study has compiled a database of 648 terrorist groups operating any time between 1968 and 2006 across the world. It showed that 404 of these terrorist groups had wound up their activities, while only 244 remained active. The study was done by RAND Corporation, a conservative American think tank. So, how and why did the majority of the terrorist groups get finished off ?
The findings of the study reveal a stark fact: of the terrorist groups that ended their activities, 43% were involved and coopted in a political process and 40% of them were exposed and apprehended by policing methods. Policing involves surveillance , infiltration, electronic taps, tracking money trails and other such sleuthing methods.
Among the successful examples are the arrest of members of terrorist groups like the Liberation Front of Quebec in Canada, and various black liberation or white supremacist groups in the US. Cooption into the political process and giving up of arms was seen in the case of Renamo in Mozambique and the April 19 movement in Colombia.
Only 7% of the groups were finished by the use of force, as in the case of Tupamaros in Peru, which was wiped out in a bloody military slaughter. About 10% of the groups wound up after achieving their stated goals.
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In making these calculations, the 136 groups that splintered were not counted among finished terrorist groups, because it was found that often their members joined some other active terrorist group. This happens especially when the groups are competing for the same resources and outside support, as in the case of Pakistan-based groups like Jaish and Lashkar.
(Courtesy: Timesofindia.com)
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