Dec 21, 2002 10:51 AM
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(Updated Jan 01, 2003 06:37 PM)
AN OVERVIEW: -
The tale starts somewhere in the late thirties or maybe earlier than that. Some people stood up to join hands & launch a struggle against the Governments of Germany(erstwhile FDR & GDR), Italy, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Palestine etc. This struggle was not something to resemble a freedom struggle of India. It was a fight back full of violence and pitiless bloodshed. There were attacks on the government machinery and political assassinations followed. This led to various governments banning such organizations and calling them “TERRORISTS”. But the ideology of a number of such groups was to bring so-called sociological reforms by toppling the governments they were fighting against. The time went by and the number of these groups kept on soaring,
By the end of the first 5 decades of the 20th century, these Terror movements, which in the beginning were just isolated resistances against a political setup, started to regroup and joined hands with each other. Now such organizations started to take form of a bigger consortium, which could handle terror strikes at a wider scale, and of devastating magnitude. Now any place could be made a target with no limitations of men and deadly machines at their disposal. The excellent example being the incident of high jacking four Jumbo’s on a single day by the Palestinian guerillas from different locations of the globe and making them land at Dawson Airport in Jordan. All the 4 gigantic jets were later destroyed through bombs detonated after their demands were met.
This only was the time when the term “State - sponsored - terrorism” had got coined and now nations had started to fund, train and use these groups against their enemy states. The best example being Uganda, under its dictator Idi Amin, helped the Palestinian terrorists in all possible ways during the ‘Entebbe Airport’ episode against the Israelis or Iran helping the Hizbullah. The others to join this trend were Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya and today’s haven of terrorists i.e. Pakistan.
Now as the 20th century started entering its last phase, the picture of terror and its ism started to get more and more dreadful. India like many other nations could not save itself from this menace. By the time 80’s arrived, India was up fighting such mindless violent groups in Punjab and the North - east. And by start of the 90’s came the final bolt from the blue for this gr8 nation. The crown of the land, Kashmir too started to boil in this fire of terrorism and it still continues.
Back in the west, the big Super power i.e. US and the most powerful man in the world(read any President of that country) was playing his own games to remain No. 1. Be it support for the Afghan warlords against the Russians or the disintegration of the USSR itself in 1991 it proved no less than a legal, democratically elected sponsor of the said menace. Only difference being that no one had the guts to question its authority.
The 21st century arrived, now the world scenario had changed drastically. A number of new players had entered the world of terror business with virtually no nation left free of its deadly tentacles. New organizations sprang up with rich resources to carry out their operations as, when and wherever required. Among the veterans, some groups just vanished out but some like the HAMAS, LTTE, HIZBULLAH, the AFGHANS and a few lesser known flourished more and more. Some new entrants were also there and one name that caught the attention of one and all globally was the “AL - Qaeeda” meaning ‘The System’ in Arabic. Nearer home names like the Lashkar - e - Toiba and Jaish - e - Mohammad had also cropped up.
2001 had entered its 9th month and the date was(no not the unlucky 13th but) 11th. News spread like wild fire throughout the globe that the big brother had been attacked right inside his home.(Ghar mein gus kar!) All TV channels beaming the worst ever terror strikes in the history of terrorism itself. A country that had been living under the impression as impregnable had been left as the most vulnerable. Mockery had been made of its high technology based security systems. It was the handy job of “The System”. With this a name of a man surfaced out, ……… ‘Osama bin Laden’ a Saudi billionaire who has assets worldwide. The man who is literally worshipped as the ideal of all Jihadis.
Then came 1st October, a date no Kashmiri will forget. The militants of JeM launched worst ever Fidayeen attacked on the Assembly in Srinagar leaving scores of people dead and an equal number wounded. It was not enough as the same group launched its assault over India.
The date : - 13th December 2001.
The location : - Parliament of the largest democracy of the world.
Casualty : - 14 dead(including the 5 terrorists) and 16 wounded.
By this time the Big brother had declared a so-called war on terror. Afghanistan was being planned as the next site for US action. Keep in mind that this nation has a gr8 hobby of waging wars on foreign lands thousands and thousands of miles away from its territory. The action began. Taliban was toppled and a puppet government headed by Hamid Karzai took over. A war declared by Uncle Sam(our Bush uncle) against Mulla Umar & Osama went on still and it was declared that Osama had perished in the battle. Only to be contradicted by reports that he still is very much on the scene. Though the new battlefield might be Iraq once again……….
Year 2002 is nearing its completion, a year which saw the worst ever bloodshed than all its predecessors. How long all this will continue, nobody knows.
