Countering terrorism

The recent spate of terror attacks around the world claimed or inspired by the ISIS terrorist group has shocked every right thinking citizen of the world. The wave of attacks began with an assault on the Brussels international airport, a busy aviation hub in Europe. The Orlando Massacre in which nearly 50 people were killed at a night club was probably not a direct ISIS attack, but there is every indication that the suspect Omar Mateen (who also died at the scene) was ‘inspired’ by the brutal tactics of the ISIS.

The attack on the Istanbul Ataturk airport, another busy aviation hub in Europe, killed 44 people. Although no one has claimed responsibility per se, it clearly points to the hand of ISIS. Closer home, the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan 2, Bangladesh, saw the deaths of 22 people, mostly Italian and Japanese businessmen and women who were patronizing the restaurant after a hard day’s work. Two Sri Lankans miraculously escaped the siege and murder spree and are currently receiving treatment at the Dhaka military hospital. This was another case of ‘home-grown’ terrorism allied to the ISIS , since the perpetrators (all shot dead, except for one) were identified as brainwashed youth from affluent Bangladeshi families. ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack and even posted pictures of the suspects smiling for the camera.

bombing

The ISIS did not stop there. There was a massive truck bombing in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital this week that killed more than 250 people. This is the biggest terrorist attack in Iraq since 2003, when the present Iraq conflict began. ISIS, which has a history of attacking mosques in Syria and Iraq, then did the unthinkable – they attacked the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia and also exploded suicide/normal bombs in several other locations in Saudi Arabia. Significantly, all these attacks took place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (which ended on Wednesday) and Muslims around the world have naturally been appalled by the conduct of ISIS.

Most Islamic scholars have totally rejected the ideology of ISIS, saying the very name Islam stands for peace. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her televised address to the nation after the Dhaka carnage, said very clearly: “These people (ISIS terrorists) are not Muslims.” The attack on Medina was perhaps the best indication that the fanatical and brutal ISIS has nothing to do with Islam.

These massacres demonstrate that the Islamic State has established terror cells around the world — and is still capable of heinous attacks despite its recent setbacks on the battlefield. In fact, both Belgium and Kuwait have recently broken up ISIS cells. Terrorism experts suggest that the ISIS is desperate to show that it is still active despite recent losses – hence the terror attacks which necessarily target civilians. “The Islamic State is losing territory in Iraq and Syria, but it is still a formidable opponent and very dangerous,” says Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and an analyst with the Brookings Institution.

One of the fundamental principals with regard to terrorism is that “terrorists have to be lucky only once but Governments have to be lucky all the time”. Here in Sri Lanka, we are no strangers to this phenomenon. The LTTE carried out terror attacks around the country but some attacks could be averted due to advance intelligence. That is a sine qua non for foiling terror attacks. Governments and law enforcement authorities have to be one step ahead of the terrorists, but this does not always happen unfortunately. For example, French investigators have found alarming intelligence lapses that led to the terror attacks in Paris.

intelligence

A French Parliamentary Committee examining two terror attacks in France last year has called for the nation’s intelligence agencies to be streamlined and merged, finding widespread failures in the collection and analysis of information that could have helped prevent the attacks.

Among 40 proposals, lawmakers urged the government to merge some of France’s overlapping and sometimes competing agencies and to create a new national agency — like the National Counter Terrorism Centre that the United States established after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — reporting directly to the prime minister. It also urged the government to set up a shared antiterrorism database; to better monitor prisons, where radicalization of inmates is a major problem; and to tighten the sentencing of convicted terrorists.

These are proposals that any country can adopt, because the intelligence set up in most countries is a blend of competing agencies that often do not know about the operations of the others.

This creates a vacuum that can be exploited by terrorists and even organised crime gangs. ISIS and other terror groups being global outfits, it goes without saying that intelligence gathering must essentially be global – all countries must share intelligence on emerging internal and external terror threats. Terrorism in any country is equivalent to terrorism in every country.

duty

There is also a massive duty for the Islamic religious community, especially the mosque leaders, to ensure that youngsters are not indoctrinated or radicalized by terror groups that present a distorted view of Islam. They should guide the youngsters on the correct path. It is no secret that most of the ISIS recruits are “foreign” youth who have been radicalized through ISIS propaganda. There have been a few from Sri Lanka as well. One common complaint is that parents often have no idea that their sons (and daughters) are being radicalized. Parents must thus keep a close eye on their offspring.

At the same time, political leaders and law enforcement personnel must not be prejudiced against the Muslim community for the actions of a few. In one such incident, Ahmed al-Menhali, an innocent traveller from the UAE in the USA wearing the traditional Arab dress was briefly arrested on the suspicion that he could be an ISIS terrorist.

The law enforcement authorities tendered an apology after realising their mistake. Understandably, law enforcement authorities are on edge given the recent spate of terror attacks, but it still pays to be patient and prudent.