A Thought worth Pondering

Abstract

Terrorists are on the rampage. Suicide bombings have become a common phenomena. Federal as well as Provincial Governments are taking all possible security steps. Intelligence agencies are round the clock at work although one may have reservations about their performance (or lack of it) for being unable to gather precise timely intelligence and failing to penetrate the militant outfits. Large number of terrorists are rounded up or killed every day. Yet the frequency and intensity of bomb blasts is on the rise. All possible measures to stem the rising tide of terrorism are being thought about. However, these measures and proposed solutions are largely conventional in nature, and as such do not seem to root out the menace. The fundamental question that comes to everyone’s mind is whether we are following the right course. If the incidents of terrorist acts are to be taken as a yardstick of our response, then the answer is clearly an emphatic ‘No’ which leads us to the conclusion that we have to find out and implement ‘out of the box’ solutions to the growing menace of terrorism. In order to be able to determine a durable and effective response, there is a need to find out the root causes of terrorism. Various theories can be put forward in this regard.