The menace of terrorism has the potential to plunge the entire world into chaos and the only thing it breeds is retribution and hatred amongst men. The sole way this menace of the modern times can be dealt with is by confronting this scourge head on. As the anniversary of 911 is approaching, and keeping in mind the fact that the Indian people too have suffered from terrorism since decades now, it is apt that a roadmap be prepared that takes into account the factors that lead to the breeding of this scourge and how terrorism can be eliminated. It is well known that there is no magic stick by the waving of which the phenomenon of terrorism can be effectively dealt with, however, it should be noted that a combination of dealing with terrorism with an iron fist and some slew of measures that promote brotherhood and equality among men shall lead to the elimination of terrorism from the entire globe. These measures have been elaborated below, and this write up has explicitly tried to present some concrete steps that can be taken to counter this menace that has led to widespread bloodshed and sorrows among people, and countless lives have been adversely affected due to the mindless acts of terror.

1.Ape the measures that terrorists adopt

It should be recognized that the most important source that supports terrorism of any kind is the support of the people in one way or the other. Terrorism cannot be bred in isolation, and it needs to be recognized that in order to curb and eliminate terrorism, one needs to first stop the source that lend a huge number of people to enlist for the causes that terrorists adopt. In this age of information with the huge propagation of news and current affairs through the social media platforms, the terrorists have used such invaluable tools to their own advantage. Terrorist organizations like the Al Qadia or the ISIL have used the information technology and in particular the social media as an effective means of spreading their propaganda and this acts as an attraction for misguided people who give themselves up to their causes by succumbing to their false propaganda. In order to curb this, besides making such organizations devoid of such tools, an aggressive counter campaign on the social media and on the internet needs to be started at the earliest so that their propaganda is effectively countered and people are shown the truth rather than letting them getting misguided by the cowards.

2.Increased cooperation amongst nations

It is imperative that nations having divergent interests cooperate and collaborate among themselves forming massive blocks of alliances that are directed against the terrorist networks. Such type of alliances, having the common goal and interest of eliminating terrorism from its source should be an effective way in which the geographical reach and bases of terrorist networks are contained and systematically destroyed. Once the terrorist organization are in the pressure of shrinking space, both physical and online, their elimination will become easier. For example, the way United States of America should be cooperating increasingly with Iran, India should be increasingly cooperating with Pakistan in the same manner, China should be increasingly cooperating with Russia and Japan, and France should be increasingly cooperating with the countries of the Magrib in Africa so that such micro and macro alliances amongst the nations become an effective tool to zero in on the bases of terror and dry up their recruitment drives amongst the people. Even if it is taken as granted that some people may still support terrorist organization, insurmountable pressure should be mounted on such entities from all over the globe so that they mend their ways.

3.Direct engagement with the people

Direct engagement with the people, especially those who are prone to fall for such terrorist organizations and honest and truthful mass communication with all the people of the respective governments and strengthening the role of the United Nations is also an effective way that terrorism can be countered. It is to be noted that breeding ground of terrorism are such places where there are enormous economic and social challenges and there is no livelihood for the people and hence they get pressed to join the so called panacea that terrorist organizations offer. Direct engagement with the people also means getting to understand their problems, their cultural basis, their economic causes and learning from history so that people are taken into confidence by their respective governments before they launch iron fisted and tough measures against the scourge of terrorism. When people are siding with the forces of the truth, the moral authority that any kind of terrorist organization falsely claims get eroded. It is to be kept in mind that when the support of the people dries up for these scumbags, it becomes increasingly difficult for these evil people to carry out their nefarious designs.

4.Creation of a true welfare state

Ultimately, there is no doubt that terrorism rose its head because of the large scale failure of the governance systems and by the weakening of the writ of the legitimate governments. Hence, in order to finish for once and all this scourge of terror, it is important for all legitimate governments that are constituted by the people to create a truly welfare state where the voice of people is heard and where the government is constituted truly by the people and its sole basis of existence is to work for the betterment of the people that it governs in every measure. This final point in the charter is the most difficult to put into practice but given the enormous challenge that the governments of the world face, it becomes imperative that all the nations of the world unite in order to create a truly welfare state all over the globe that is subject to the approval to the people and puts a balm on the wounds of the highly burdened people and for those who have lost a lot due to the scourge of terrorism.

At the end, I remember clearly that before the tragedy of 911 took place, the Al Qadia terrorists taking shelter in Afghanistan had blown up the Bamian Buddha statues and they announced their intentions of hatred and division and spreading darkness and anarchy. It is by taking such constructive measures listed in the write up above that terrorism can be eliminated from the globe and a just order is created that brings peace, prosperity and happiness to the people of the world.

image courtesy: peacebuild.blogspot.com