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OPINION APRIL 21, 2023 | The Indian Eye 13

cent in the country since the Taliban not adequately equipped to tack-
takeover of Afghanistan, and a 120 le the challenge of terror drones,
per cent increase in deaths was ob- whose sightings had multiplied sig-
served in 2022. nificantly in 2022. Then there is al-
The Sahel is a thin stretch of ways the looming specter of a spill-
semi-arid land from Africa’s west over of terror activities into Kashmir
coast to Ethiopia’s mountains in once the dust settles in Afghanistan
the east, dividing the Sahara Desert and Pakistan.
from the rest of Sub-Saharan Afri- Terrorist tactics or terrorism
ca. It passes through all the states have evolved as a tool for grievance
in its way where there is no proper groups to assert their political, reli-
governance, and the people suffer gious and ideological messages to a
from poverty, extreme malnutrition, dominant group. As long as there is
regular famines and environmental room for the radicalization of people
degradation. It is a perfect breed- with real or perceived grievances,
ing ground for extremist ideologies there will always be the presence of
whose demographic is also condu- armed non-state actors that employ
cive to spreading Salafi-jihadism. violent means to achieve their objec-
The ever-intensifying competi- tives. With all its fault lines, the ide-
tion between al-Qaeda and Da’esh ology of radical Salafi-inspired jihad
has become evident in the Sahel, White supremacist and neo-fascist groups ‘The Base’ and Proud Boys are active in the An- is here to stay, which is, in turn, giv-
with JNIM and Islamic State in West glo-Saxon world and have ties with far-right movements in Europe (File photo) ing rise to latent extremist ideologies
Africa Province (ISWAP) being in other societies. One of the main
two of the fastest-growing jihadi-in- and have ties with far-right move- and online payment methods are in- reasons for terrorism to garner such
surgent organizations in the world. ments in Europe. European far-right creasingly being observed to be used global attention was that it was argu-
They are fighting the region’s gov- groups have cooperated in training to syphon funds for terror activities. ably one of US foreign policy’s top
ernments as well as amongst them- and dissemination of propaganda. India has been dealing with ter- priorities. Today that is not the case,
selves for influence and recruitment. Contrarily, some of these groups also rorism much earlier than the West, and on the contrary, these armed
About 43 per cent of deaths caused have links with the Russian Imperial beginning with the insurgency in the non-state actors are prone to becom-
by terrorism worldwide came from Movement (RIM) and fighting on Northeast, the LTTE and Sikh sep- ing proxies to the so-called return
the Sahel in 2022. Terrorist activity both sides of the Ukraine war, like aratism in the 1980s and then with of the great power rivalry towards
is also spilling over to the West Af- the Jihadis. The transition of pow- the Siamization of the insurgency in which the international state system
rican coast littoral states of Togo and er in established democracies also Kashmir. Some of these challenges is again increasingly moving.
Benin. French counter-terrorism faced challenges for the first time in never really died out but only went Therefore, all nations worldwide
efforts have lost the legitimacy they history, with Trump and Bolsonaro’s into dormancy. Given the right so- must keep up with their counter-ter-
once had amongst all this chaos and supporters storming their respective cio-political conditions, they may rorism efforts and address real or
are withdrawing from the region. In legislatures after their loss in the stoke up again. perceived grievances that make radi-
the Horn of Africa, Somalia is still elections of America and Brazil. calization possible. India always had
having to deal with the world’s lon- Violent extremist organizations a stance which does not differenti-
gest-running jihadi insurgency of al- have increasingly employed new The security situation in Kash- ate between terrorists of any creed.
Shabaab and the nascent but grow- and emerging technologies for their mir did take a turn for the good It has already established itself as a
ing Islamic State in Somalia. influence operations and financ- strong voice against terrorism, espe-
White supremacists and neo-fas- after the abrogation of Arti- cially state-sponsored terrorism. On
cists increasingly occupy public con- ing. The world now is in a situation the virtue of India’s chairmanship
where societies are moving towards cle 370 with respect to orga-
sciousness and political space. The post-organizational violent extrem- of the UNSC’s Counter-Terrorism
line between traditional right-wing ism enabled by social media, where nized terror, but new challeng- Committee for 2021–2022 and its
political parties and the far-right there is no command and control, es emerged in the form rise in joining of the Shanghai Cooperation
fringe is now blurred as mainstream and extremist propaganda reaches Organization (SCO) concentrating
nationalist political parties increas- the target demography at the click lone-wolf attacks and increased on extensive Counter-Terrorism co-
ingly adopt fringe narratives for po- of a mouse, eventually leading to use of drones for cross-border operation through its Regional An-
litical gain. UK Independence Party, radicalization. There are a growing ti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), it can
Front Nationale in France, Alter- number of social media-induced terrorism. take the leading role in tackling ter-
native for Germany (AfD), Spain’s lone-wolf violent extremist attacks of rorist challenges.
Vox and Italy’s Lega Nord are some every creed worldwide, from jihadi The dormant sentiments of Sikh
of these political parties. Populist terrorism in Kashmir and Colombo, separatism are increasingly showing Nikhil Guvvadi is Research Intern at
parties have also formed a political anti-Semitic attacks in Texas, and signs of revival, with the socio-polit- the Counter Terrorism Centre, Mano-
group called Identity and Democra- mosque shootings in Christchurch. ical situation in Punjab taking a rad- har Parrikar Institute for Defense
cy in the European Parliament based Though conventional means of ical turn. The support for a separate Studies and Analyses, New Delhi
on anti-immigration sentiments. guerrilla tactics and financing still Sikh state in India within sections of Views expressed are of the author and
Apart from the rise of far-right the Punjabi Sikh diaspora has always
do not necessarily reflect the views of
narratives and political parties, there dominate the operations of terrorist existed. They have organized them- the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
organizations, unmanned aerial sys-
is a growing connectivity between tems such as drones and UAVs have selves into pressure groups conduct- Government of India.
the far-right fringe groups of the almost become conventional due to ing ‘referendums’, and some ele-
West within Europe, across the At- their extensive use by al-Qaeda and ments even attained political power The full version of this article first ap-
lantic and in Anglo-Saxon nations. Da’esh. Around 65 non-state actors over the years. In both Kashmir and peared in the Comments section of the
White supremacist and neo-fascist worldwide have drone-deploying ca- Punjab, a growing trend of increased website (www.idsa.in) of Manohar Par-
groups ‘The Base’ and Proud Boys pabilities. Block chain technologies drug abuse is fuelled by cross-border rikar Institute for Defense Studies and
are active in the Anglo-Saxon world narco-terror networks. India is still Analyses, New Delhi on April 13, 2023

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