There is a need to revisit narratives and discourses of terrorism to effectively deal with the menace as drone attacks alone can’t address the issue, suggested Commodore (retd) C Uday Bhaskar, one of the country’s leading experts and outspoken critics on security and strategic affairs.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day seminar on “Terrorism in South Asia: Issues and Challenges,” organised by the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) here, Bhaskar said: “Though military can contain terrorism for some time, we need an equivalent of a multi-disciplinary approach also. More effective way is to go back to the roots and revisit narratives and discourses of terrorism.”On the Kashmir issue, the former commodore said “socio-political process has to hit that level where issues will be solved in a peaceful manner,” adding that due to external dimensions of the Kashmir issue, the Army can’t be called back from the Valley at this juncture.“No Army wants to remain stationed in civilian areas for long. It is a compulsion for the Army to remain in Kashmir,” he said.
Vice-Chancellor, AMU, Lt Gen (retd) Zameeruddin Shah spoke about the root causes of terrorism and its remedies. “Terrorism doesn’t develop in a vacuum and it doesn’t erupt suddenly. Despair, alienation and illiteracy are the root causes of it and they have to be addressed,” he said. “Answer to all issues of the Muslims in the country is education.”
On reservation for the Muslims, he said: “It is a short term solution, though it is welcome.” However, he cautioned that reservation always has a backlash. “Reservation can generate backlash from the majority community and we don’t want that.”“The Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of terrorists,” Shah added.
