The newly unveiled U.S. Nuclear Posture Review focuses on five key objectives; one of them is preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. The report underscores nuclear terrorism as ‘today’s most immediate and extreme danger.”
What is Nuclear Terrorism and how serious is the threat? Is it an overrated nightmare? Some facts here:
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks has been sentenced to death by the court on May 6. Kasab was found guilty earlier that week and convicted for mindless murder and waging war against the country.
Very often western observers play down the existence and influence of Pakistan based Lashkar- e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami inside Bangladesh’s territory. Investigations into number of terror strikes in Bangladesh occurred between May 2004 and December 2005 have revealed, rather unearthed, a lethal nexus between these two Pakistan based terror groups and couple of mainstream political parties (Pro-Islamic Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Bangladesh. It also revealed how they teamed up to score a political point by assassinating rival political leaders.
Review by Niraj Kumar (August 28, 2010): The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001, shocked the international community. Terrorism, which by and large was considered a phenomenon limited to the Middle East and South Asia, was threatening the world's most rich and powerful — the United States. The initial response to these terrorist acts was a knee-jerk military attack led by the US on the bases of al-Qaeda and its host Taliban in Afghanistan.
Review by S S Tabraz: Terror Sans Frontier: Islamic Militancy in North East India by Jaideep Saikia (Vision Books, New Delhi, 2004) is a book which deals with the issue of Islamic militancy in India’s Northeast region in general and Assam in particular. Saikia is an old hand in observing the affairs of India’s Northeast, and this time around, he has come up with an excellent analysis of the simmering problems of militancy in this part of India. This book is divided into five chapters in all.
Review by Niraj Kumar ( August 08, 2010): The world has changed a lot since September 11, 2001. A new government under the leadership of Hamid Karzai is ruling Afghanistan, which was earlier ruled by the Taliban and acted as a haven for Al-Qaeda. Iraq is under US control, and Libya has agreed to mend its ways. The initial knee-jerk reaction of revenge for the death and destruction caused by the September 11 attacks by the Americans has given way to a desire to understand the reasons behind these attacks.
Review by Nihar Nayak: The Maoist insurgency in India (also known as Naxalite), which was started at Naxalbari in the Darjiling district of West Bengal in 1967, has now spread to 159 districts in 14 states. They have virtually spread over 20 per cent of the total districts in India. Till the end of the year 2004, Naxalite violence had claimed 518 lives in 1,140 incidents against 348 deaths in 1,138 incidents in the corresponding period last year. The Naxalite problem is, in certain respects, more serious than the Kashmir problem.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Mr Natwar Singh, while attending the ASEAN - plus 3 meetings and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Jakarta in July 2004, had noted that India was ready to provide security in the Malacca Straits and stressed that it was in India's national interest to ensure that the Strait remained a crime-free sea-lane.
The dwindling Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) Karnataka State Committee may get fresh issue to revive and consolidate after Arcelor Mittal and POSCO’s interest for investments in that State. Land acquisition, displacement and minority issues may dominate their agenda. Recent Industrialization programme in the state could be a major issue for the Maoists to seek public support. The Karantaka State government has decided to acquire one lakh acres of land in June 2009 in and around all the second tier cities excluding around 2,000 acres adjoining Bangalore.
Three names have been doing the rounds in India these days: Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, David Coleman Headley (a.k.a Dauod Geelani) and Tahawur Hussein Rana; one hard core veteran Jehadi and two motivated ‘would be’ terrorists. They are in the news for plotting major assaults in India. Among them, Ilyas Kashmiri who was rumored to be dead early this year, in fact survived three drone attacks in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, belongs to the Al Qaeda- Harkat-Ul- Jihad- Al-Islami (HuJI) lineage and heads Al Qaeda’s deadly 311 brigade. He still carries a head money of US $ 600,000 dollars.
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