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BUSINESS
Terrorism poses a major threat to Indian economy
By
Devajit Mahanta
No country would like to share expertise and technology with other
nations to fight terrorism, which is still not recognised as a common
enemy. At present, it is more frightening than the likelihood of the third
world war, which is more calculating and sane than in the past. It could be
Al-Qaeda, LTTE, Maoists or any other fundamentalist or politically
motivated groups.
Immediately after condemning the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on June 24,
where at least 184 people were killed and around 714 injured, Pakistani
Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri suggested that the best way to deal with
terrorism was to tackle the real issue of Jammu and Kashmir. What has a bomb blast
in Mumbai got to do with Kashmir, you may
wonder, but that seems to be the association in the Western World as well.
The recent recovery of bombs in Surat,
series of blasts in Ahmedabad, and 9 blasts in Bangalore
were to create fear psychosis and to dent India’s economic prosperity.
The covert attempt is to create a sense of insecurity that would not only
impact the people who live in these areas, but its economy as well. While
local people have no option but to take these terror strikes in their
stride, investors will think twice before putting their money in places
which are prone to terror strikes.
Those who subscribe to the first viewpoint insist that terrorism is
essentially a law and order problem, and that the state must apply all
necessary force to suppress its manifestations and to ‘restore normalcy’.
The businessman who paid out whopping sums as protection money was not
prepared to complain out of fear. The government officer who was threatened
with exposure and ridicule and forced to pass on large amounts of illicit
black money, sourced to years of corruption and bribery, was silent. In the
North East, tea plantation executives often shy away from keeping the
government posted about extortion demand notes issued by the ULFA in the
apprehension that they may have to lose their managers to bullets. They
paid quietly out of their large profit chests.
Cross-border terrorism, blamed for most of India’s
recent attacks is not the only threat to India’s internal security. It
also faces an armed Maoist insurgency that afflicts vast swaths of
territory across 16 of its 28 states, and that Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh called the country’s “single biggest challenge to internal security.”
In addition, several militant and insurgent outfits are active in the
country’s North East. Meanwhile, the disputed territory of Kashmir
remains a tinderbox of conflict six decades after independence.
However, the reasons for the imperfect success of the military response to
terrorism can broadly be identified as comprehending the following: The
major terrorist movements in India have normally enjoyed some foreign
support and refuge in safe-havens outside the country, the intervention of
the military and paramilitary forces, purportedly to ‘aid the civilian authority’,
in fact, seriously undermines the latter at the State level and the
military option does not, and indeed cannot, address the web of collusive
arrangements and the ambivalent character of the affected State’s politics.
All these factors combine in the crucial consideration that the military
option does not address the fundamental dynamics of terrorism. The regime
of corruption in India,
even under normal circumstances, severely limits the actual impact of
developmental expenditure on target groups.
Thus, “the weaker the democracy gets, the more the black economy
flourishes”. More significantly, there is little resistance, and virtually
no faith in the ability of the institutions of governance to protect
private citizens and enterprises from this so called terrorist economy.
Readers can send their feedback at devajitmahanta@gmail.com
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