Terrorism: looking into the future

Future terrorists might come from various religions, which is not surprising for Pakistan.

An official report out of the United States, titled “The Future of Terrorism”, talks about world terrorism through the year 2030 and says that while terrorism is unlikely to be eradicated completely — because it does not have a single cause — major groups such as al Qaeda appear to be weakening as some key senior leaders of the groups have been killed in recent years. The report, however, warns they could still launch attacks.

Several reasons are cited as to why the terrorist threat could abate in the decades to come. The report says that most of the Muslim anger is geared towards America and is also the driving force of many terrorist groups. Hence, there is the prospect of some of this anger being alleviated when American troops withdraw from the region in the next couple of years. Additionally, the Arab uprisings and the fact that “protesters acted in the name of democratic values, not in the name of religion” should be used as a sign that might help defuse terrorism. This is a good segue for Pakistan to redirect its public anger towards the ill-practice of democracy in the country and move it away from religious sectarianising and extremism. In other words, interfaith harmony and tolerance need to be taught and now might be the time to start doing so, in the light of this report informing us of the abatement of terrorist threat in the years to come.

Future terrorists might come from various religions, according to the report, which is not surprising for Pakistan because when we hurt our minority communities and offer them little regard, we should expect retaliation at some point. As we have touted time and again, we need more security and for intelligence to step up its game in eliminating the bad guys; priorities must be reset. A positive sign from the report is that newer generations may not want to carry on the battles of the older generations. This difference in thinking is a much needed one in our own country, especially in terms of our attitudes towards India and America.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2012.