Terrorism is a term that refers to any violent radical activity. As a group, terrorists take action to frighten people and disorder the society. Terrorism can also be described as a political action that uses terror, fear and violence as a means to achieve its goal. It is one of the leading and most devastating global problems and it is a complex phenomenon that existed even before it became an international issue. It starts with a series of irrational thoughts and beliefs that cause profound emotions, such as resentment, hatred, retribution, and so on. This results in terrorist acts such as attacks or bombings.
The reasons for terrorism in India vary vastly from religious causes to issues like injustice and unequal development. People in India have suffered a lot from terrorism. The Prime Minister in his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address said that thousands of our innocent people have lost their lives. Before India raised its voice against terrorism and its severe consequences on global platforms, the world was not ready to take terrorism seriously. But now when it is knocking at their own doors, every nation in the world and governments with faith in democracy are considering it as one of the biggest challenges. To quote the Prime Minister again, terrorism is a threat to humanity across the globe. Terrorism is hell bent upon destroying humanitarian forces.
It is a persistent global threat that knows no border, nationality or religion, and is a challenge that the international community must tackle together. Nations need to come together to fight this menace once for all to establish and maintain peace and harmony across the world, so that the basic human rights can be made possible for the general masses. They need to work on counter-terrorism, on improving awareness of the threat, developing capabilities to prepare and respond, and enhancing engagement with partner countries and other international actors.
Terrorism does not only kill the people but it kills and destroys the dreams and aspirations of them as well. It also calls attention to concerns towards the fundamentals and essentialities which are prerequisite for a welfare state. Therefore, every state must focus on education so that youngsters come to know about the horrific impact of terrorist activities. The state should also be concerned about the eradication poverty and injustice so that people are not easily manipulated on these accounts.
Over the past ten years we have seen states try a variety of approaches to reduce the chances of terrorists succeeding. Alliances and cooperation of nations will help in this regard but breaking down institutional barriers and building trust between competing agencies as well as across borders takes time. Therefore, working with bilateral and multilateral agencies that can share their expertise with countries in need of technical assistance, offer support in terms of educational programmes, work to build tolerance in communities and harmonise the relations of the people across borders, is the need of the hour.
I am optimistic about what we can accomplish together as a nation and along with people of the world over the next years. Working collectively can significantly reduce the number of attacks and victims and hopefully one day eliminate the global threat once for all.

The writer is a research scholar and can be reached at [email protected]

Dar Shahid Hussain