Naxalism in India: Southward Movement?

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.

Nihar Nayak

Transnational Terror: Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Chicago Plot

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.

Animesh Roul

Hacking: Novel Threat

Of late, the menace of computer ‘hacking’ has become a punishable offense when it compromises national security. Of course not all acts of hacking will be amounting to terrorism, and sometime used as a tool for pranks or profit. This could be regarded as terrorist action only if the hacking is designed to disrupt government’s activities, or to advance anti- national causes, or to intimidate its citizens. Either a threat or real use of it, is a potential act of terrorism, or rather can be regarded as cyber-crime or cyber-terrorism in a broader context.

Dr. Niranjan Barik

Practical Consideration: An Immediate Exigency in the Indo-Nepal Relation

Cross border threats, which involve influx of counterfeit currencies, illegal arms, smuggling of narcotics, illegal wildlife trade and its derivatives and cross border terrorism, are gaining momentum along the 726 kilometer long porous India-Nepal border. It is a grave concern for India considering the present political instability in Nepal.

Amit Kumar Gupta

India: Impending Taliban Threat and Response

For India’s military, the Taliban is a threat looming large on the horizon. The perception of the Taliban making inroads to India has increased since December 2008, when Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mahsud vowed to fight alongside the Pakistan army if a conflict broke out between India and Pakistan. The verbal threat has since been underlined by the Taliban’s eastward movement inside Pakistan, from its bases in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to the city of Lahore, close to the Indian border in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Animesh Roul

India, Bangladesh: Joint Task Force for Countering Militancy

The Government of Bangladesh has recently accepted India’s proposal to set up a Joint Task Force to deal with militancy and other anti-national elements. However, modalities of the Task Force are yet to be decided. As of now, India will be assisting Bangladesh with intelligence inputs only without any direct involvement in any joint military operations to flush out militants taking shelter in Bangladesh.

Dr. Mansi Mehrotra

Mumbai Terror Attacks: Agencies Yet to Learn Hard Lessons

For almost over sixty hours, Mumbai, the financial capital of India, witnessed a series of terrorist attacks, multiple hostage crisis, mindless killings, fierce gun battles and at the end, a disrupted life. The terrorists have struck major targets including luxury hotels and a Jewish Center frequented by Westerners and elite Indian only to be holed up later inside these buildings with innocent civilians as hostage. Their demand was the safe release of Mujahideen held in Indian prisons.

Animesh Roul

Islamic Terror Tentacles: Kerala Militants Fighting for Kashmir?

The identification of at least four slain Kerala based militants in Jammu and Kashmir early this month raises some vital questions about Islam and terrorism in India: What inspired Muslim youths of Kerala to fight for a cause alien to them and that to in a distant land? How far these Terror groups have penetrated into India's hinterlands getting easy recruits for their subversive activities?

Animesh Roul

Striking at the Roots: Fighting Crime against Women through Self- Defence Training in Delhi

To control increasing crime against women has been the most challenging task for Delhi Police. To tackle this dangerous situation, the Delhi Police started with an innovative approach of training women in self defence training in 2002. The incidents that almost remained unnoticed and unregistered now have acquired increasing awareness and a proactive attitude to fight and eradicate them from the society. The Police instead of delivering lectures or talks directly reached the target audience.

Loveleen Kaur

Cyberterrorism: The Reality of Virtual Warfare in India

Conceptually speaking terrorism is a dynamic concept and India being one of the oldest victims of terrorism has witnessed many facets of it.As India increasingly goes online, the dangers posed by Internet terrorism are beginning to escalate. Cyberterrorism in India has now grown in to an extremely dynamic phenomenon which is not easy to track. Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad; almost all the terrorist attacks on the Indian soil in recent past have established an e-connection; a dangerous nexus between the virtual world and the real terrorists.

Rajat Kumar Kujur