CHAPTER IV
Global Terror Infrastructure and Implications for India

Global terrorism is recognized today as one of the gravest threats confronting humanity. What has made terrorism more lethal and widespread is the availability of modern technology and global communication networks, especially satellite phones and the internet and the adoption of “suicide” tactics. The effectiveness of terrorism is magnified mass media and multiplied by the panic reactions of targeted societies by the visualization on living room TVs. Terrorist tactics, thus, derive comparative advantage as a technique, viz. the rapid spread of images, its immediate impact, and enabling communities that lie at the extreme edge of frustration to make them feel that their presence is felt.

Undeniably, religious faith-based terrorism especially Islamic Fundamentalist sustained terror, which is backed by strong external linkages and connectivity, is the defining global threat today. Intricate networking connects vast numbers of radical Islamist terrorist groups, nurtured on the rabid Islamic preaching of paradise after death is responsible for the insane suicide missions of able bodied persons.

World-wide operations of terrorist groups reveal that an entirely new breed of terrorists has emerged. Terrorist outfits today have a transnational reach. New support structures and modern global financing mechanisms are being created. Cipher coding of messages is becoming more sophisticated.

There are three major areas on which to concentrate in formulating a counter-terrorist strategy in the fight against international terrorism

First, penetration of the hardcore of terrorist planning where actual operations are conceived and implemented; and second, the techniques and propaganda by which sympathy is generated for the objectives of particular cells, where recruits are inspired to sign-up and where hiding places are created. Third, the structure of the policy by which terrorists can be disadvantaged and set-back in planning terrorist operations. For example, penetration of informers deep into the planning cells of terrorist organization and creating disinformation, or, reducing the flow of funds and money supply to terrorist capability to acquire weapons, recruit cadres, establish training facilities and state-or-the-art secure communications.


to be continued....

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