terrorism: world

Calling all the countries

Only a united world can fight global terrorism and usher in peace

The year 2008 has not been peaceful, especially for countries like India, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and a few others. There was no month in 2008 that newspapers went without citing any terror activities; the latest being the Pakistan terror attack and 26/11 Mumbai attack.

During her recent visit to India and Pakistan, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged both the countries to cooperate on terrorism issues. Terrorism affects not only the victim country; its effects are felt by many other countries that are not even on the terrorists' radar. Attacks on hotels (for instance, the Taj and Oberoi in Mumbai, Marriott in Islamabad and Jakarta, Serena in Kabul, Grand Hyatt and Radisson in Amman, Hilton in Taba) has recently increased. Such attacks not only kill the citizens of the target country but many foreign tourists as well. This in turn increases the inter-country tension and friction.

Modern day terrorist uses technology (among his armoury are Global Positioning System, satellite phones, international mobile SIM cards, fake passports and ID cards) that is tough for a single country to track. Take for instance, GPS and satellite phone that can be used from any part of the world, making it unfeasible for the victim country to track the devices. In such cases, almost all countries need to come together and share information about any susceptible movements. 

A report released on December 3, 2008, titled 'World at Risk' talks about possible WMDs attack on US soil in the next few years to come. The same report states that "were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan" and bluntly singles out Pakistan as a prime suspect.

Rice's recent visit was primarily aimed at decreasing the chances of next attack on the US soil. However, it also acts an opportunity for Pakistan to undo its age-old image of being a pro-terrorist country. But will Pakistan, with the help of Ms Rice and thus US, eliminate its domestic terror camps and further help the world fight against terrorism? Time can never tell, but the sooner it is, the better!