Terror: In the name of…. By Soumyashree Chatterjee

nigahein thii rah par 

rah khunse dhul gaya 

nanhee pariyaan the who, khuda me sama gaye
ai khun ke saudagar apna daman bhi toh tu bhigo gaya

 kya pak kya hind sab ko dubo lechala gaya

eyes were set on yon road

the roads were awash with blood

they were but lil angels you made one with Him

oh merchants of blood tis your hands that bear this innocent red 

beyond the walls of pak and hind has your apocalypse come

Some thoughts I came across in December 2014, just after the Tehrik-e-Taliban engineered massacre at the Army public school Peshawar, leaving a head count of 132 children, some as young as 8. Words that have rung true across countries across boundaries of race color and creed. Words that have been the core, whether the proponent has been motivated by religion patriotism or any other false belief.

The Oxford English dictionary uses the word terrorism to mean ”The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims”. If we try to trace the use of this word it can be probably traced to the word terroriste coined by François-Noël Babeuf of the French revolution period. The tactic however may be traced back to the 1^st-century Jewish zealots who used it against Romans in Palestine. These in turn probably found root in the practices fo the Order of Assasins maintained by the Persians. Primarily acts of terror are found to be synonymous to anarchy rather than being government sponsored. Although in today’s scenario we tend to see governments acting as sponsors of acts of terror in other territories to further their own narrow political ambitions.

Terrorism thus is mostly an expression against the military might of a government but while being directed to the government, more often than not are so done against innocent civilians. Terror became a currency of power in the modern age for many during the Israel Arab standoff. A look at the origins of Badar Meinhoff and its spin-off the Red Army Faction establishes that it is often disgruntled youth who are easily seduced to the ways of bloodshed. And this is across the band whether it be 70s Germany or today's Kashmir, the Hezbollah of Afghanistan or IS fighters of today. Gullible passionate youth have been made to shed blood to the call of the Quran or the motherland, have been indoctrinated on the altar of blood of near ones or that of religion. 

Today there are 143 recognized groups which have been marked as terrorist groups spread across the globe which have their roots in Islam. Thus all these people who are affiliated to these groups believe they are fighting a holy war to establish the order of Islam and to subdue infidels. Yet there is a huge debate that rages within Islam itself whether, in holy war children and old, women and sufferers may be sacrificed. Allah is seen as a benevolent father and hence how can He the father of even infidels condone on their slaughter and harm. A true musalman is charged to a holy war if need be, as is he charged to do each act with piety and in the name of God the most gracious and most compassionate. That is why a musalman oft start every act with the words of grace “Bismillah ir Rahaman ir Rahim”.

As we traverse the latitude and longitude of the globe and come across one act of butchery after another, we often see that the name on which the killing is done often changes but the tapestry is often similar the victims always similar; people who have naught to do with the theme of the killers or the principles on which the killing is done. Whether it be in Chechnya or in middle east, in the hills of Afghanistan or the verdant Bali, a paradise like Kashmir or the forests of Africa, aborigine new Zealand or fast-paced London, it is children, women, elderly or people who have nothing to do with Islam, people who would probably feed or clothe a needy person not caring his religion, these are the ones who pay with their own blood or the blood of their dear ones.

If we look at the people who have joined the ranks of the IS we often see a whole lot of Europeans chase a false sense of romanticism in their tryst with IS. For some, this is often cleansed by the realities of murder that they perpetrate once they are in the folds of the zealots and the initial brainwashing is washed away the blood of innocent. More often than not it is cleansed by their own blood that they shed even as they are trapped in disillusionment. Unemployment could be one of the reasons for the unrest that spurs on the youth to embrace the smooth-talking recruits who spew venom for the system that the youth are disgruntled by and in the same breadth promise a paradise in this life or beyond that rallies the vulnerable to this new order. Thus is the first seed sowed and carefully nurtured through systematic indoctrination till the first stone is picked and thrown against the system. The journey from a stone to a gun is not that arduous presumably for these recruiters with their followers. It is the same in the pristine streets of Kashmir or the bustling ones of London.

When the Tehrik-e-Taliban snuffed the lives of the children in the school, I wonder which higher purpose of God was served beyond filling His garden with their innocent souls. They claimed that this was vengeance against the army for atrocities in Waziristan. I wonder which child in that school had permeated any atrocity. If it is the sins of the father that those children paid, then mercy be.

The state today also often indulges in sponsoring terror against its enemy state, but Karma seems to bring back things a full circle. It is oft said that Osama Bin Laden was a  product of US indulgence in its proxy war in Afghanistan. Osama came back to haunt them until they had to close off the circle at Abbottabad. This will be the case for every situation for terrorism is today a hydra that seeks to devour its own creator if it stands in its way.

As the flight winged its way towards the world trade centre I am sure Mohammed Atta invoked Allah the gracious benevolent and compassionate. I wonder if Allah was being benevolent or compassionate to all the victims or if truth be told on the day of reckoning would Atta stand in the ranks receiving benevolence from the most merciful One, or begging for mercy for his acts against the children of the most gracious One. In the name of The Most Merciful One, whether he be Allah, God, Jehovah Krishna or of any other name let there be love and not a tear for one that is lost out of turn.