International Security - Essay Example

International Security Introduction Terrorism has become the global menace. Over the years different terrorists organizations has tried to destabilize the global peace and prosperity. It is a significant political problem which is being faced by the countries across the world. Terrorists groups across the world try to create mass destruction and kill innocent people irrespective of cast creed and culture. There are several terrorists groups in the world. Each and every group has separate political agendas and goals. All those varying political agendas and goals have made them different from one another. Apart from the varying political goals, places of terrorist activities are also different. It means sources of funding, leadership; ideology and safe heavens are also different for the different groups. But one thing is common and most important that, in this modern era of interconnected world terrorism at any part of the world is a serious threat for the international security. International terrorism is spreading its networks across the world. Terror activities of groups like al Qaeda and Tamil Tigers are no longer confined within the boundary of any single country. Terrorist attack in WTC and Rajiv Gandhi assassination are the two clear cut evidences of international terrorism. Day by day the threat of terrorism is raising its ugly head and different terrorists groups are trying to create political mess in several parts of the world. This paper will give a detailed picture of the comparing political problems, purpose of the problem and probable recommendations for solving the problems. Comparing political problems and issues Al-Qaeda is a global Islamist organization of militants that was originally founded by Osama Bin Laden and various other militants in the year 1989. This terrorist group majorly operates as a network which encompasses multinational stateless army and even Wahhabi Muslim movement. The major aim of this group is to call for an interpretation of jihad and sharia law. Their struggle is in context of global ideals that too at a global scale. This terrorist group has carried on wide range of attacks on all those targets who they consider to be kafirs. The main philosophy behind global scale operations of Al-Qaeda is decision centralization and execution decentralization. This terrorism group was developed during Islamic movement and Islamic revival way back in 20th century. Sayyid Qutb one of the Islamic writers can be regarded as a motivational spirit behind formation of such terrorism groups (Walsh and Schmitt 114). He stated that there was no Muslim world due to absence of Sharia law, and many had reverted back to pre-Islamic ignorance which was called as jahilliyah. According to his preaching’s there was a need for starting a movement which could establish Islamic states, incorporate Sharia law into the system, and to rid of Muslim world from any such influences of non-Muslim. The major political issue of the group was to implement concepts such as nationalism and socialism. Al-Qaeda’s operations are complemented on the basis of centrally planned activities. Ayman Al Zawahiri had identified three major foundations of political ideology. These political aspects of the group were not only applied on Iraq but even across many other regions. The principles of the group were in contrast to religious and secular reform ideologies that was voiced by not only Muslims but even support were gained by United States (Al-Bahri 134). First issue was their governing authority which would be based on Quran, as they aim to build an Islamic state totally dependent on Sharia law. They consider man-made law to be deemed contrary and acceptable as per Islamic faith. The second issue is of liberation of homelands, as they believe that free elections would not hold true for Muslims until they possess freedom of Muslim lands and liberation from all possible aggressors. Finally the third political issue was liberation of human being, and this was done in order to specify the power related to judiciary that was based on sharia law, to be ensured that rights of people can never be disposed off, and except all other factors in context of such judiciary (Geltzer 104). On the contrary, Tamil Tigers as a terrorism group possessed different set of political concerns and issues, as they were not much focused on religious aspect. The Tamil Tigers or LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) was a nationalist’s terrorism group. This group was based in Sri Lanka and was founded by Velupillai Prabhakaran in the year 1976. The national campaign which was started forth by this group had an aim to establish an independent state in east and north of Sri Lanka majorly for Tamil people. This group was surrounded by an important political issue which was ethnic imbalances between minority Tamil group and majority Sinhalese. The government of Sri Lanka had tried best to rectify the imbalances which existed and even empowerment done by colonial rulers on minority Tamil people. However the Sinhala only act had resulted into individualistic ideologies between Tamil leaders. In the initial phase of 1970s there was a non-violent struggle towards a mono ethnic state for Tamil people but in later years it had resulted into violent secessionist struggle. It can be stated that Al-Qaeda possessed the major issue of implementation of sharia law into the system but the scenario was not similar for Tamil Tigers. They were ill-treated majority times and this had happened because they were minority group. Their struggle was to get justice and prevent any form of attacks that was occurring on Tamil people over Sri Lanka. Hence political problems for both the terrorism groups were different as one had religious issues and did not prefer any form of non-Muslim influences, and the other intended to set up a place where Tamil people can freely survive without any such fear. During the battle of Tamil Tigers, they preferred to exchange control of north-east Sri Lankan territory with militants of Sri Lanka, where both of them were even engaged in fierce military battle (Bandarage 212). This terrorism group was even invited for almost four rounds of peace talk but that was unsuccessful. In overall context through their attacks and strategy planning this group was able to acquire 76% of Eastern and Northern Sri Lankan Provinces. Purpose for problem Tamil Tigers was a militant organization full of nationalist sentiments. The main dominant area of the terrorists group was northern parts of the Sri Lanka. The main aim of this terrorist group was to create an independent Tamil state in the northern and eastern parts of the country. The main purpose of the problem was consistent political rancor between minority Tamils and the majority of Sinhalese in the country. Historically Sri Lanka has two major ethnic groups. One is Sinhalese and the other is Tamil (Swamy 123-125). Due to some controversial political decisions during the period of PM Bandaranaike the problems between two ethnic groups increased. During that tenure Act like Sinhala Only Act of 1956 discouraged the Tamil sentiment severely. Tamil people living in the island felt deprived. Minority Tamil people were so disturbed and that they started to circulate documents related with the separate Tamil state. During 1960s the movement for the separate Tamil state gathered momentum when several Tamil youth were engaged with the movement. Institutional racism was also a purpose of the problem. During 1970s Policy of Standardization was introduced in the universities of the Sri Lanka. The policy was significantly biased towards the Sinhalese students and was ignoring the interests of the Tamil students. There are lots of instants of social injustices like rapes and murders of the innocent Tamil people by the government security forces made the situation worst. Tamil people were exposed with various social and political discriminations. These kinds of social and political discrimination towards the Tamil people were also a purpose of the problem. Limitless nationalistic Tamil sentiments and ruthless hunger of power of Velupillai Prabhakaran was also a purpose for which the problem was so serious. Al-Qaeda was founded so as to establish Muslim state and eradicate any form of foreign influences from specific regions. The problems which were created by Al-Qaeda were because of their strategy of defensive jihad. Osama Bin Laden was developing strategies for various attacks so as to ensure U.S. withdrawal and even that of other foreign troops majorly from Saudi Arabia. This group considered all the non-Muslims to be kafirs and this was another cause of such wide range of problems created by the group. Osama Bin Laden as the leader of this group was opposed to any form of support given by United States to Israel. He and his militants believed that this kind of foreign support would disrupt the Muslim ethics and values. This group was visionary and they had identified paths through which they can implement Muslim law in the system and even develop a state comprising of Muslims where there would be no such influences from non-Muslims. Bin Laden during his struggle even stated that Islamic world should even start considering itself as a seamless community where all Muslims will be obliged to defend or unite themselves (Burke 98). Hence it is clearly evident that the issue was more related to moral and religious context as the group believed that no non-Muslims can think good for Islamic people. The problem which was created by the group was to make the world realize that Muslims need to be given their required power and authority. Solution or prevention of the problem Managing the sense of equality among the all ethnic group people inside the Sri Lanka could have been a best way to prevent the problem. The main core reason of the problem were lied in the unequal treatments from the side of the then Government of the country. During that period of time the country could have tackled the situation in more proper way. They could have abolish or called off all the initiatives created sense of discrimination in the minds of Tamil people (Mobley 23-25). The Government of Sri Lanka and the international community could have taken the matter more seriously. They should have arranged more and more discussions with the revel group. It was significantly important from the side of the Government to address the main concerns of the Tamil people. Instead of doing that they carried on more torture on the Tamil people. Tamil people were the minor ethnic groups in the country. Government could have announced special facilities for the minorities in the country. It would have given them a sense of satisfaction and special attention. Minority Tamil people of the country should have been offered much more respect and opportunities (Jackson 67-69). Government of the country should have been more sympathetic towards the basic demands of the Tamil people. It could have erased the possibilities of the demands of separate state. If the sentiments of the Tamil people would have properly taken care of then this kind of problem could have been avoided. During this crisis some of the international community’s tried to exploit the situation, they took it as a business opportunity to sale arms to the revels as well as to the government forces. It was not a desirable decision at all. Instead of fanning the fire of war international community could have played more constructive role to deescalate the situation. Terrorist group like al Qaeda has its network across the world. It poses significant complex problems for the international security. So solution of this problem must be significantly pro active, prompt and it should be a joint effort by the international community. International community must share all the sensitive intelligence and information to prevent or resolve the menace of this Islamic terrorist outfit. It is not possible for any single country to resolve this problem as the network of this terror outfit is boundary less. Any kind of terrorist activity requires funding (Jones & Libicki 45-46). Countries across the world should cut the supply line of the funding. It will create serious resource crunch for the terrorist group. The funding channels are the major source of power which is gained by such terrorist groups. These channels can be restricted by appointing a team which will ensure thorough monitoring and control over such funding network. On the other hand these fund generating sources need to be banned by the government of respective countries. To be more precise funds give this terrorism group the required power to plan strategies for wide sale of attacks. The unlimited flow and accessibility of information will even provide the platform to set up plans in order to stop any such terrorist attacks. There can even be some peace talks conducted by the higher authority so that the major problem behind such terrorism can be eradicated from the grass root level. These meetings need to be organized in such a fashion that terrorist group members do not feel that they are been invited for any form of compromise. Al-Qaeda members can be given equal opportunity to prove themselves and establish their much needed Islamic state without any form of foreign support. On the contrary if they fail to do so then government can undertake required actions ensuring that no terrorist attacks will be executed by the group (Pavlović 90). This problem can even be solved by counteracting from the beginning so that the terrorist group realizes that they are being unjust and harming civilians in their struggle. To some extent it is often a major issue to tackle such terrorist groups as they are more deterministic by nature. Terrorists groups are the threats to the global security. To mitigate those threats governmental organizations of various countries need to adapt more structured and systematic approaches (Hoffman 56-58). Structured and systematic approaches will assist the global community to neutralize these problems and to make this world a better place to live in. All the problems cannot be resolved with the help of weapons or war. Some of the problems require humanitarian point of views also. Conclusion There is no shadow of doubt that terrorism is a global problem and it should be addressed in the global arena only. It is very important for all the international community to rise up against all the differences and face the problem jointly. The above paper has categorically described that there are contrasting reasons between two terrorist groups. The paper has clearly compared the varying political problems of al Qaeda and Tamil Tigers. The paper has clearly articulated that different terrorist outfits have different purpose of problems. During the course of the paper potential solutions to prevent the problems related with the two groups have been described elaborately. Preventive recommendations of these two problems are significantly difference due to the varying natures of the problems. It shows that purposes of problems related with Tamil Tigers were more Sri Lanka Centric and were significantly backed up by the extreme sentiments of nationalism. On the other hand purpose of the problem in the case of al Qaeda is more religion and Islam centric. All the above factors are clearly articulating that these two groups are commonly recognized as the terrorist groups but those are significantly different than each other. Works cited Al-Bahri, Nasser. Guarding bin Laden: My Life in al-Qaeda. London: Thin Man Press. 2010. Print. Bandarage, Asoka. The separatist conflict in Sri Lanka: terrorism, ethnicity, political economy. New York: Routledge. 2009. Print. Burke, Jason. What exactly does al-Qaeda want?. London: The Guardian. 2004. Print. Geltzer, Joshua. US counter-terrorism strategy and al-Qaeda: signalling and the terrorist world-view. New York: Routledge . 2011. Print. Hoffman, Bruce. Inside Terrorism. New York: Columbia University Press. 2013. Print. Jackson, Richard. 2005. Writing the War on Terrorism: Language, Politics and Counter-terrorism. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 2005.Print. Jones, Seth & Martin Libicki. How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering Al Qaida. New York: Rand Corporation. 2008. Print. Mobley, Blake. Terrorism and Counterintelligence: How Terorist Groups Elude Detection. New York: Columbia University Press. 2013. Print. Pavlović, Zoran. Terrorism and security. New York: Chelsea House. 2009. Print. Swamy, Narayan. The Tiger Vanquished: LTTEs Story. London: SAGE Publications. 2010. Print. Walsh, Declan and Eric, Schmitt. Drone strike killed no. 2 in al Qaeda, U.S. officials say. USA: The New York Times. 2012. Print. Read More