West should shun duplicity

A terror attack on Paris, Dallas or anywhere is a serious threat to world peace and security. But an assault on a western land is only considered an act of a global terror, whereas terror strike on the Indian soil is a sporadic attack on a country. The world should unite if the West is attacked.

But, the West would satisfy itself with statements expressing anger and anguish, if India is attacked. The Western condemnation would be much stronger if westerners are victims of such an attack. As long as the West perceives the problem of terrorism so selectively, the real global response to the challenge is not possible.

The West should realise that terrorism of any kind is a challenge to civilisation. India faced this problem much before it has touched the western coast. But the West is recalcitrant. The political geography of terror reveals certain pattern in such attacks that clearly points out the policies of the Western hegemony.

Voices now emanate from countries like United States and Britain that the invasion of Iraq was wrong. The threat of ISIS is intricately linked to the civil war in Iraq and Syria. This civil war is fomented by the Western imperial and partisan intervention in this oil-rich region.

The West patronises fundamentalist and despotic regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt etc. Pakistan which emerged as the breeding ground of international terror continues to be a premier military ally of the United States and its allies. The West continues to be largely oblivious to the state-sponsored export of terror from Pakistan to India. Pakistan remains the NATO frontline ally in the war on terror in Afghanistan.

The attacks on France are carried out by the North African descendants. This indicates the fact that the French colonial exploitation of North African Muslim-dominated countries sowed the seeds of alienation and discontent that fuelled the radicalisation of the unemployed Muslim youth.

The terror threat to the West mainly emanates from countries which they pillaged and plundered during the colonial past, exploited and destablised in the post Cold War period. The West cannot be fully free from the scourge of terrorism until it revisits its foreign policy. It should stop backing fundamentalist and dictatorial regimes that suit its neo-colonial exploitation.

The war on terror should be truly global in nature. This requires the support of entire international community. The United Nations should lead such an initiative. The response to the challenge thrown up by such sinister forces cannot be held hostage to the geopolitical military and economic interests of a few powers.

The West should immediately act against the States like Pakistan that perceive terrorism as a foreign policy instrument. The West lacks legitimacy and credibility in dealing with terror. The response is short-sighted. All this does not mean terrorism is the offshoot of only the Western subjugation.

The phenomenon of terrorism has many more local and regional dimensions, too. The mankind should unite to fight the terror monster in all its dimensions. The ideology of fundamentalism should be defeated. A comprehensive war on terrorism is the only solution.