The Hindu Business Line : Thrall of terror

A diabolical plot to blow up the trans-Atlantic airliners thwarted just in time by M-15 in the UK earlier this month caused much fear and despair. The meticulously planned terror plot was traced to a body of British nationals of Pakistani origin, some of whom were reportedly trained in Pakistan. Funds raised for relief in the quake-struck Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are said to have been diverted for this nefarious plot. Nearer home, the Mumbai 7/11 serial blasts, like the earlier ones in different parts of the country, were, to quote the Prime Minister, "instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border." It has been established that one of the 7/7 London bombers, British-born Shahzad Tanveer, had gone to Markaz-e-Dawa, the madarassa that Osama bin Laden is said to have co-founded at Muridke, some 50 km from Lahore.

A slew of evidence point to Pakistan's involvement in breeding and nurturing terrorism. Continued infiltration by the Taliban fighters into Pakistan has been a cause of concern. Afghan officials openly accuse the Pakistani administration and its intelligence service of not only sympathising but also colluding in training the jihadis, and providing them logistics and intelligence support.

Growing prejudice

There is growing prejudice in Western countries, particularly against Muslims of South Asia. A British `Social Attitudes Survey' showed that prejudice against Asians was strongest. The spectre of terrorism is one big cause of mistrust.

Despite, assurances by the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, and the occasional publicised arrests of militants, Pakistan's terror infrastructure, its alleged `jihad factories', are reported to be intact. Stephen Philip Cohen aptly states in The Idea of Pakistan: "While the Pakistan government frequently commits itself to reining in radical groups, inevitably their `disbandment,' or `banning' means a name change, or the temporary suspension of operations."

A lecturer in public policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Ms Jessica Stern provides a graphic account of Pakistan's jihad culture: "South Asia has replaced the Middle East as the leading locus of terrorism in the world." Post-9/11 the world, at long last, learnt to grasp the malignity of a new brand of zealots. Realisation is dawning in certain sections in Pakistan that terrorism can devour their society.

A whole generation of countless innocent children has been denied exposure to education and opportunity for growth, to be citizens of the new millennium, of transcending constraints — physical, emotional and monetary. Thousands of Islamic religious schools — madarassas — supported and funded by organisations are creating, in Stephen Philip Cohen's words, "a class of religious lumpen proletariat." The way the tender impressionable minds are indoctrinated and led astray, instead of getting normal education, seems to be a fit case for the UNCHR to look into.

(The author is a former Managing Director of Concor.)

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