Editor,
Apropos the Al Qaeda threat of invading the North Eastern region, the State Government has said it would take necessary steps to ensure that the State is prepared to meet any terrorist threat. Rohan Gunaratna the head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) rightly described Al Qaeda as a galvanized movement. The death of Osama Bin Laden has never demoralised the organisational hierarchy of the outfit. Al Qaeda also known as ‘The Base’ is an adaptive and robust terrorist organisation tied to a 10th century philosophy of life and warfare. They are smart and employ sleeper cells and front groups. The current threat by Al Qaeda in raising its vanguard of fighters and operational capability in the Indian subcontinent has raised alarms among the Indian security establishments, as the Union Home Ministry has treated the video posted online by the chief and spiritual adviser of Al Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri as authentic.
How does the threat play out in the North East Region? The video mentioned ‘great tidings for Muslims in Assam’. The current threat is serious. Hence it is important for us to recognize that terrorists spewing wrong interpretation of Islam are a tiny minority within the Muslim community. Muslim communities themselves do not threaten our security and the contribution of Muslims to the economic, cultural and social life of this country cannot be ruled out. Radicalization within certain Muslim diaspora does pose a risk for the remaining Muslims but we must work in tandem with communities to identify and respond to the risks that it poses.
Personally I feel Al Qaeda is not only the real problem at hand; it’s expanding reach with other terrorist groups and non terrorist organisations to indoctrinate and raise funds is what matters. Terrorism analysts Peter Bergen author of ‘Holy War’ and Bruce Hoffman author of ‘Inside Terrorism’ rightly said that the danger of Al Qaeda comes not only from the central leadership rung but from the collaboration with like- minded groups. If the State Government is working closely with central intelligence counterparts in formulating strategies then it is a commendable initiative. Perhaps India needs to create a Terrorist Threat Integration Center for collecting and analyzing targeted intelligence for counterterrorism purposes. Defeating the threats is a collective responsibility and requires that Meghalaya networks with global centers of gravity, refining the data from State Intelligence Bureau, station chiefs of external intelligence agencies and military intelligence and use the data to detect the terrorist linkages which may require painful change of culture and best practices and necessary changes to ensure that failures do not occur within the chain of command.
Yours etc.,
C.Gatphoh,
Shillong-14
