United front against terrorism

Modern terrorism has assumed an all pervasive nature, that it is essential for nations to unite to combat the menace as a unified force. Today, terrorism has advanced to such a sophisticated level that laying emphasis on the security aspect alone would hardly do. There is a need for nations to share and collate their intelligence, update technical expertise and to strengthen all legal and judicial structures that could deal more effectively with the problem of terrorism. South Asia has suffered immensely during the recent past as a result of terrorism.

The Bali bombings, attacks on Mumbai are just two examples of how terrorists could strike at random and with impunity. Nations therefore, should be more prepared and equipped to deal with the problem. If not, terrorism would inflict untold damage to social development and economic progress of countries.

Colombo is currently hosting a three-day workshop for police officers and prosecutors in South Asia on effectively countering terrorism with the support of UN Counter Terrorism. It is appropriate that Sri Lanka was chosen as the venue for this workshop, the second of its kind (the first being in Bangladesh) the country having only recently defeated the No. One terrorist outfit in the world.

But this is not the end of the problem. We should for ever be vigilant since all pervasive nature of terrorism in the modern era can always come back to haunt us. It may not be the LTTE. But global terrorism today is faceless.

It can sweep across boundaries to swallow up nations in different forms and guises to threaten the political stability, economic progress and security not just of individual States but of entire regions. We know that in the present day terrorism cannot be treated as confined to one country or a single region. Today, the phenomenon known as global terrorism has assumed the nature of a hydra headed monster which has spread its tentacles far and wide cutting across ethnic, sectarian or ideological, divides.

What we are witnessing today is not merely cross border terrorism but Terrorism Incorporated where the terror networks overlap States, and regions to encompass a global reach. It is no longer confined to raw acts of terrorism alone but involves drugs and human trafficking, money laundering, counterfeiting and a myriad of other rackets that cause maximum harm to the well-being of a State.

The LTTE, for instance though a terrorist outfit that set upon an avowed goal of establishing a separate State in Sri Lanka possessed a sophisticated global network that included commercial interests that helped widen and expand its evil empire. Terrorism is no longer one dimensional and should be tackled on several fronts.

Hence there is a need for a change in the strategies hitherto adopted by law enforcement agencies and the legal systems if we are to deal with the new challenge. It is in this context that the UN initiative to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance to States to develop and strengthen their counter terrorism capabilities by working together with other members of the United Nations’ family to support the implementation of the United Nations’ Global counter-terrorism strategy should be appreciated.

Of course Sri Lanka will be able to offer valuable inputs into this exercise from her experience of combatting terrorism for over three decades. But the overarching influence of global terrorism if to be challenged effectively should have the inputs of all nations not just at the security level, but also in other ancillary fields such as the judiciary and prosecution aspects.

The workshop is aimed to get the participants thrash out a comprehensive formula whereby the new challenge posed by modern terrorism could be met. It is hoped that the Police officers and prosecutors of the South Asian region could work out a fool proof system to block terrorist traffic through the porous borders of many South Asian countries. It is such a lapse that saw the deadly attack carried out by terrorists that wrecked the landscape of Bombay.

It is the vulnerability of border security that allowed Tamil mercenaries to penetrate into Maldives in 1987 and helped stage an aborted coup. It is not only on the security front. There is also a need for a uniformed legal apparatus to tackle terrorism in the region such as allowing for the extradition of terrorist suspects wanted by a fellow Asian neighbour.

Hopefully, the workshop would produce an iron clad formula which would help tackle the problem of terrorism on all fronts.