Anti-terror measures and pluralism

The recent bomb blast at the New Delhi High Court which claimed the lives of nearly a dozen persons and wounded scores of others, is an unsettling reminder that terror is forever on the prowl in this region and outside and needs to be fought tooth and nail. The continuing bloodshed perpetrated by extremists of all kinds everywhere in the world, adds a special poignancy to recollections of the 9/11 tragedy and other bloody cataclysms of the kind which have seared the moral conscience of humanity over the years.

Needless to say, our hearts are with India over this latest extremist-inspired atrocity and there is no doubt that President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Lankan state would go more than the extra mile to be of assistance to India in this painful moment. India could count on Sri Lanka to be fully empathetic towards her because Sri Lanka herself is no stranger to extremist terror. Needless to say, Sri Lanka endured political terrorism of the worst kind at the hands of the ruthless LTTE, for over 30 long years, which was, of course, finally defeated by our Security Forces under the leadership of President Rajapaksa on May 19, 2009.

In fact, all those countries which are experiencing the horrors of political extremism could depend on Sri Lanka to only empathize with them but to readily share with them the most invaluable terror-fighting military know how and techniques which she accumulated over the years. Terror has to be fought collectively and in this task a sharing of knowledge and expertise is essential.

The terror in New Delhi should remind the world community that no quarter could be given to the practitioners of terror anywhere. Nor could those countries which have suffered grievously at the hands of terrorists be treated inconsiderately. The latter we need to say because Sri Lanka is being needlessly persecuted by some sections of the world community over allegations relating to the final stages of the humanitarian operation, whereas she should be admired and considered a role model by all those who are unfortunate enough to suffer at the hands of terrorists.

Sri Lanka had no choice but to defend herself against a ruthless terror outfit which was all out to dismember her, but instead of winning the backing of the world, Sri Lanka is now being called on to answer unfounded charges in some 'councils of the world'. This is the reason why the upcoming sessions of the UNHRC would need to be watched closely. This could be a facetious situation where attempts are being made to penalize a country over its inalienable right to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Meanwhile, the tenets of International Law are being violated with impunity by some powerful states of the world system under the guise of fighting terror. Civilians are dying in these efforts to quell terror but no accountability procedures seem to be taking effect. Thus is double-speak and double-think being made to rule the world.

However, the truth is that terror is continuing to stalk the world and states cannot stand idly by when this happens. All the necessary law and order measures need to be used to fight the wasting blight. Here, in South Asia, such efforts must be conducted on a collective basis and SAARC would need to expedite such joint efforts to fight a common enemy which spares none, on a most urgent basis. It is of the utmost importance that SAARC amity is firmly established before the fight is taken back to terror collectively. A divided house would only weaken and render ineffective these joint efforts.

But law and order measures are only part of the answer to terror. It is also important that extremist political opinion is defeated simultaneously through knowledgeable popular discourse and theoretical inputs that expose the fallaciousness of hard line, narrow political perceptions. These tasks must be undertaken by the more enlightened sections of the mass media, the intellectual and academic communities of this region and those in the world outside.

What needs to be popularized worldwide is democratic discourse or opinion which envisages tolerance, humanity and accommodation of the 'Other'. It is in a world characterized by 'unity in diversity', at every conceivable level, that the death knell of extremism and terror could finally be sounded.