Definition and Types of Terrorism:
- Terrorism lacks a universal consolidated terminology. The epitome, quantum and configuration of terror and its mechanism keep on changing with new proliferations but the core, intent and matrix of terrorism remains always intact.
- Rosalyn Higgins, an independent lawyer and former President of International Court of Justice, said terrorism is a term without legal significance. It is merely a convenient way of attending to activities whether of states or of individuals widely approved and in which either the methods used are unlawful or the targets protected or both.
- Terrorism leads to an ecosystem and environment of intimidation and cover civilian killings so as to coerce a government to succumb to a particular political demand by a group.
- The US Department of Defence defines terrorism as: “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological”.
- In 2004, UN Secretary General said “Terrorism is any act intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from any act.
- In 1994, United Nation Conferred a special comprehensive correction on International terrorism which elucidates terrorism as: “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the public, group of persons or particular person for political purpose in any circumstances unjustifiable.
- The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 has given a very comprehensive definition of Terrorism. The various components of definition are as follows:
Firstly, the intention behind terrorism is either to:
- Threaten the unity,
- Threaten the integrity,
- Threaten the security,
- Threaten the sovereignty of India, or
- Strike terror in the people or any section of people in India.
Secondly, the tool used for a terrorist act may be:
- A bomb, a dynamite or other explosive substance,
- Any inflammable substance,
- Firearms or other lethal weapons,
- Poisonous or noxious gases, or
- Chemicals or by any other substances, (whether biological or otherwise) of a hazardous nature.
Thirdly, the effect of a terrorist act may be:
- Death or injuries of a group of person,
- Loss, damage, or destruction of property,
- Disruption of any supplies or services essential to the life of the community in India or in any foreign country,
- Damage to any property used or intended to be used for the defence of India or in connection with any other purposes of the Government of India, or
- Detention and life threat to any person in order to compel the Government or any person in order to do or abstain from doing any act.
However, after 9/11 incident of US, the various definitions of terrorism had been revisited and a common definition of terrorism is the systematic and threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government for political, religious or ideological goals. President Trump delivered a speech to the Arab Islamic American summit on 21 May 2017 in Riyad called upon the Muslims to confront “the crisis of Islamic extremism and Islamic terror of all kinds.”He emphasized that if you choose path of terror, your life will be brief and your soul will be condemned. Trump designated battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life and decent people all in the name of religion as a battle between good and evil.
1.1 Classification of Terrorism
Based upon the objectives of the terrorists, the terrorism can be classified into following types:
1.1.1 Ethno Nationalist Terrorism: Ethnic terrorism is the use of violence by a sub-national terrorist group to advance its own cause. The cause may be creation of a new State or the elevation of the status of that ethnic group. Tamil Nationalist groups in Sri Lanka and insurgent groups in North East India are examples of ethno nationalist terrorism.
1.1.2 Religious Terrorism: Violence motivated by religious imperatives is Religious Terrorism. The present day terrorist activities are an example of this form only.
1.1.3 Ideology Oriented Terrorism: Terrorism based on the propagation of an ideology is Ideology Oriented Terrorism. It is of two types- Left Wing and Right Wing:
- Left Wing Terrorism: Violence used to propagate the Left ideology (ideology of Marx, Lenin and Mao Zedong). It believes that existing social relations and state structures are exploitative in character and a revolutionary change through violent means is essential.
- Right Wing Terrorism: This type of terrorism uses violence as a means to maintain the status-quo or to return to a past situation. Violence against migrant communities also comes under this category. Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy are an example of it
1.1.4 State terrorism: It is the systematic use of terror by a government in order to control its population. Not to be confused with state sponsored terrorism, where states sponsor terrorist groups, state terrorism is entirely carried out by the group holding power in a country and not a non-governmental organization. It is the original form of terrorism. The 1793 French Revolution and the thousands of executions that resulted are often cited as the first instance of state terrorism, though rulers have plausibly been using it for centuries to control their subjects.
1.1.5 State Sponsored Terrorism: The terrorism sponsored by a country on a foreign land is State Sponsored Terrorism. It uses violence as a means to obtain certain clearly defined foreign policy objectives. India is constantly suffering from the problem of terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
1.1.6 Narco-Terrorism: It is defined as the attempt by narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of the Government by systematic threat or by use of violence. It can also be described as a means of terrorism or a means of funding terrorism. It is a very important topic for UPSC and thus we will discuss it in a great detail in a separate chapter.
1.1.7 Cyber Terrorism: Cyberterrorism is defined by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation as a premeditated attack against a computer system, computer data, programs and other information with the sole aim of violence against clandestine agents and sub national groups. The main aim behind Cyberterrorism is to cause harm and destruction.
1.1.8 Nuclear Terrorism: Nuclear terrorism refers to an act of terrorism in which a person or people belonging to a terrorist organization detonates a nuclear device.[1] Some definitions of nuclear terrorism include the sabotage of a nuclear facility and/or the detonation of a radiological device, colloquially termed a dirty bomb, but consensus is lacking.
1.1.9 Separatist Terrorism: Separatists seek to cause fragmentation within a country and establishment a new state. This type of terrorism is typical of minorities within a nation-state that desire their own, commonly due to discrimination from the majority group. Examples: The most prominent examples are the ETA Basque separatists in Spain, the Chechen terrorists in Chechnya, the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Kurdish PKK in Turkey, and the Quebec Liberation Front in Canada.
1.1.0 Pathological Terrorism: This describes the use of terrorism by individuals who utilize such strategies for the sheer joy of terrorizing others. Pathological terrorists often operate alone rather in groups like the others on this list and often are not true ‘terrorists’ as they lack any well-defined political motive. Examples: Pathological terrorism is most commonly seen in school shootings and serial killing scenarios. The shootings at Columbine High School and of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords all serve as examples of pathological terrorism since those who carried them out sought to use violence to terrorize for their own pleasure.
Further, based upon the involvement of actors, Terrorism can be classified into two categories:
- Terrorism by External State actors and,
- Terrorism by non-State actors