ALLAHABAD BIBLE SEMINARY

ALLAHABAD, STANLEY ROAD

211002

PAPER CODE: BTT01

DISCERNING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
A PAPER PRESENTATION ON:
STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM AND ITS
IMPACT ON MINOTRITIES
SUBMITTED TO: SIR Dr. SAMUEL GEORGE
PRESENTED BY: MRINMOY MONDAL & SHAJI S. SOLOMON
BD 1ST YEAR (ENGLISH)
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 21/09/2018

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INTRODUCTION
The term terrorism denotes an activity that give rise to terror to people to terrify them. It can be
in many ways. In today’s world the most common notions about terrorisms is all about the terror
that are spread all over the world by the extremists e.g. the Al-Qaida, the Taliban Hajis and ISIS
etc. But when we try to understand state sponsored terrorism, the picture of our notion changes
as it falls into a different field of understanding. It is something that majority of people have a
wrong notion as the term terrorism is strongly connected with the extremism. State sponsored
terrorism is also a kind of terrorism but from a different way or a different context or field.
1. STATE TERRORISM

“State terrorism” is as controversial a notion as that of terrorism itself. Terrorism is

often, though not always, defined in terms of four characteristics:
(a) The danger or use of violence;
(b) A political purpose, the desire to change the status quo.
(c) The intention to spread fear by committing stunning public acts.
(d) The planned targeting of civilians. It is this last element of targeting innocent civilians
that stands out in efforts to differentiate state terrorism from other forms of state violence.
Declaring war and sending the military to fight other militaries is not terrorism, nor is the
use of violence to discipline criminals who have been convicted of aggressive crimes.

State sponsored terrorism is an activity governed by the authority against its own people in order
to rule them or to get benefit for its well establishment. Here the authority can be a kingship, a
governing political party or a particular group of people like local rebels fueled by the leading
powers. ‘State terrorism’ is already covered by terms like ‘repression’ and ‘human rights
abuses’, and that acts of state terrorism are already circumscribed in international law and do not
require new legal or analytical concepts. This is a political or pragmatic argument which, as we
have shown, ignores the fundamental scholarly principle of including all the cases that fit the
criteria in order to retain analytical consistency.1
2. DIFFERENT REGIONAL STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM
The term ‘regional state terrorism’ signifies the act violating the people’s right in a particular
zone or a limited area. In the entire world we can vividly visualize this sort of activity where the
authority itself is terrorizing its people by different means. In countries like Colombia, Sudan,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya etc this activity can easily be seen. India is also included among these
countries as we easily cannot deny that state sponsored terrorism is not visible in India.

3. GLOBAL STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM

As mentioned above, countries like Sudan, Colombia, Pakistan, Libya, Nigeria etc are the most
preferable examples that denotes state sponsored terrorism where the authority itself in
terrorizing its people for their own benefit and ruling. Lets us look into two of these above said
nations:

1
Ruth Blakeley, “State terrorism in the social sciences,” in Contemporary State Terrorism, eds. Richard Jackson,
Eamon Murphy, Scott Poynting (New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009), 5.

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 3.1. IMPACT ON SUDAN: Sudan and its people have been facing this sort of acts
since the year 2003. Seemingly a response to a local armed rebellion, the systematic
destruction of civilian lives and livelihoods in Sudan’s western region of Darfur by the
national military and state-sponsored militias since 2003 has constituted a campaign of
terrorism by the Sudanese government. As a result, out of Darfur’s population of six
million, it has been estimated that 300,000 people died directly from violence or
indirectly from ensuing disease and malnutrition, while more than four million have
been ‘seriously affected’ by the conflict and severe humanitarian crisis. Furthermore,
the powerful psychological terrorization caused by this violence was evident in the 2.7
million Darfurians who fled from their homes and villages to arrive in despondent
refugee camps in neighboring Chad or to remain displaced, and vulnerable to further
attacks, elsewhere inside Sudan.2 Here state terrorism is directly engaged by the
political body allied with the militia that primarily and mostly targets the civilians.

3.2. IMPACT ON PAKISTAN: Since 1947, Pakistan has been using state sponsored
terrorism against its own people and is using its military units as the political force.
Many in Pakistan and in the West have regarded the military as a disciplined,
professional force that has been forced to rule Pakistan because of the corruption and
ineptitude of politicians. Western governments, especially the United States, have
regarded the military as close allies initially in the fight against communism and more
recently, in the global war on religious terrorism. For many analysts, the armed forces,
with their discipline and organization, make much better rulers than politicians. The
military has also played a crucial role in holding Pakistan together in the face of ethnic
separatist movements.3 For Pakistan, its own military forces have become the main
instrument that is sponsoring state terrorism for the people living in it. India has had
modest success in its efforts to internationally isolate Pakistan as a state-
sponsor of terrorism. More effective in this regard has been Pakistan’s own
duplicity vis-à-vis the West. 4

4. STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM IN INDIA:

“India is routinely described as a peace-loving nation. Yet it is a troubled state. And herein lies a
cruel paradox. The Indian state, since Independence, has been prone to internal violence. This
could possibly be a consequence of the very acquisition of statehood; equally, of course, a result
of inadequate experience of statecraft, combined with enhanced means of violence at the disposal
of the state. In the process an old judgment is reaffirmed: that the principal security challenge to

2
David Mickler, “Dafur’s dread: Contemporary state terrorism in the Sudan,” in Contemporary state
Terrorism, eds. Richard Jackson, Eamon Murphy, Scott Poynting (New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library,
2009), 28.
3
Eamon Murphy, Azar Tamana, “State terrorism and the military In Pakistan,” in contemporary State
Terrorism, eds. Richard Jackson, Eamon Murphy, Scott Poynting (New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library,
2009), 48.
4
4 Prem Mahadevan, “India and The global discourse on state-sponsored terrorism,” (Dec.
20/2017): htt ps: //www.orfonl ine.org/research/ indi a-global-di scourse-st at e-sponsored-
t errorism.com (Accessed August 16, 2018).

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India has historically been and remains the imposition and maintenance of internal order.” 5In
India, state terrorism can be seen in different ways and different fields. The reasons are mostly
political and it is allied by various other catalysts like torture, sexual violence, custodial death
etc.

4.1. TORTURE: In Indian Law, there is not definition of torture, yet there is a
definition that is adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations Convention
and it defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical
or mental, is intentionally inflicted by or at the investigation of a public official on a
person for such purposes as obtaining for him or a third person information or
confession, punishing him for an act he has committed or is suspected for having
committed, or intimidating him or other persons.”6 Many places in India, tortures are
conducted by the law keepers. Many a times they un-necessarily conduct torture upon
people as ordered by the authority. These tortures can be interrogations, 3 rd degree
tortures, electric shocks, sensory deprivation etc.

4.2. SEXUAL HARRASEMENT: In India, many states have witnessed this type of
terrorism governed by authorities. It is a very common way to suppress the voice of
people. Often people who witnesses crime scene are threatened by the criminals or
the power that supports the criminals not to provide any statement against them.
Sometimes to advance the level of threatening witnesses, especially women are
exposed to sexual harassments so that they may not be able to come out in public
hence detaching them from the common social flow and engagement.

4.3. RIOTS: In case of state sponsored terrorism, riots are probably the worst
situation that can ever be brought into picture. It can include peoples from two states
colliding with each other regarding land where the Government is mute or explodes
as a civil war between the civilians and the authority. Recently in the border of
Mizoram and Assam there was a tremendous collision between the Assam Police and
Mizo civilians. The Police brutally beat up the civilians in the name of land protection
ordered by the District Commissioner of the respective district of Assam, resulting
into severe lathi charge and physical assault including the attack on reporters and
journalists. Both the authorities of the state were silent and hence state sponsored
terrorism was brought into picture. Till today there is no solution arising from both
the authorities.

5. POLITICS AND STATE TERRORISM

The government support to terrorist by training and operations, money, arms and logistics,
diplomatic backing, organizational assistance, ideological direction and sanctuary. Government
did not support the terrorist group by moral wrongs but also makes the group for more capable
and hinders efforts to counter it.7 In India, sometimes the allies of the political parties conduct
5
N. A., State Terror, State Violence: Global Perspective, ed. Bettina Koch (Blacksburg: Springer VS, 2016),
53.
6
N.A., State terrorism, ed. Grace Pelly (New Delhi: Human Rights Law Network, 2009), 71.
7
Daniel Byman, Deadly Connections: States that sponsor Terrorism (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2005), 53.

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state terrorism to make sure that they are recognized as the well wishers of the country and
guardians of their own communities, e.g. the ‘Gau Raksha Movement.’Watching the abject
horror of 28 year old Rakbar Khan’s murder unfold in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, a year after a
murderous mob of cow vigilantes bludgeoned Phelu Khan to death, many would find it
disconcerting and dishearten that it was left to the Supreme Court to point to the culture of
violent intolerance that is rapidly enveloping India’s hinterland. The past three years have
witnessed the murders of 50 people mostly of the minority of Gau Raksha (cow protection) or by
mobs driven by rumors purveyed on social media that the victims were out to kidnap and kill
children. Sixteen such instances have been reported since May.8

6. IMPACT OF STATE TERRORISM ON THE MINORITIES

In India, impact of the state sponsored terrorism on the minorities is very prominent and can
easily be seen with a vision of discernment. It is mostly seen as a picture of mob lynching,
harassments on the minority communities like the Dalits, the suppressed peoples like the Tribals
and the Adivasis etc. including land matters, ecological properties, traditional weapons etc. Most
parts in Assam, especially in Kokrajhar district, they have some of the highest majority of the
Adivasi peoples residing. They have their own land, traditional equipments and weapons. Many
a times even when any minor conflict takes place in those areas, the Government passes order to
search the Adivasi villages even when they are not involved in it. The reason behind is the
traditional weapons they keep in their houses. Without any authentic proof, law keepers harass
and torture the people.

6.1. IMPACT ON DALITS: In all over India the Dalit community is exposed severely to
the heights of state terrorism. States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have witnessed
some of the major and brutal assaults on the Dalits. Dalit organizations gave a call for a Bharat
bandh on April 2, 2018. Protest meetings were held across the country. Members of Dalit sub
castes rallied at the demonstrations and directed their anger against the BJP government at the
centre, which has been trying to woo Dalit voters but has failed to address any of their concerns.
The administration in many states came down heavily on the protesters. The media, according to
observers, magnified the stray incidents of stone throwing to give the uprising a violent color.
Instances of upper caste retaliation to the protests were under reported. In Madhya Pradesh, a
BJP worker, Raja Chauhan, was caught on video firing from his gun. 9These activities clearly
state the terrorism that authorities conduct via their allies.
6.2. IMPACT ON RELIGEOUS MINORITIES: Minorities are also terrorized in religious
measures. India has two such major religions that are affected by state terrorism to a greater
content that is Islam and Christianity. The BJP and the NDA government in the centre are trying
to saffronise the otherwise secular education of India following the ‘Sangh Parivar’ agenda in its
educational reforms. Through a long term process ‘Sangh Parivar’ has launched a scheme of
Hindu education for nurturing the minds of children in fundamentalist frame. In this system of
education, Muslims and Christians are pictured as foreigners and invaders without any right to
live in India.10
8
Asit Jolly, “Upfront: Welcome to lynchistan,” India Today, Vol. XLIII No. 32, July 31st - August 6, 2018, 8.
9
DivyaTridevi, “Blind and brutal,” Frontline, Vol. 35 No. 16, August 04-17, 2018, 48.
10
M.T. Cherian, “Impact of Hindu Fundamentalism,” in Hindutva Agenda and Minority Rights: A Christian
Response (Bangalore: Center for Contemporary Christianity, 2007), 248.

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7. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
There are very limited solutions available as the context and space of state sponsored terrorism
keeps on changing itself. Therefore a stagnant solution is vulnerable. In India this solution can
be derived from the constitution and its acts, yet the allies of state terrorism create a barrier
between the victims and the solutions were the authority provides the fuel to the allies acting as a
catalyst. We can suggest the victims how they can reach out to the proper helpline by directly
dealing with them. Awareness programs among the victims, enhancing them with the political
knowledge must be conducted in places severely affected by state terrorism.

THEOLOGICAL SUGGESTION

Theologically, we do not have authentic and absolute solution for countering the state sponsored
terrorism but that entire we have is advices, dialogues, and suggestions for prevention to both the
victims and the authority. We can encourage the people about their rights and the constitution
and also the law-in- order acts. Our churches should speak about this and our pulpits should be
utilized to reach out people so that we can have a theological discussion and solution to this
matter that is non-negotiable. Only mourning and praying for the peace and harmony will not be
enough to stop this flow, rather we need to enlighten ourselves in intellectuality and prompt
nature to react with proper reasoning and empower the people.

CONCLUSION

India is a secular state where we love peace and harmony among the people. But in recent years,
we have many conflicts between the minority and the fundamentalists in various parts of India
comparing to the past. Even though we in a post modern century and we have technological
development, education and proper maturity level yet, we have a lot of things to visualize about
the suppression of minority people and others like them whereas authority itself providing fuel to
the allies who are suppressing them. In modern India the state sponsored terrorism is equipped
with modern methods of harassments and repressions. Therefore we must take modern measures
with vitality with an ambition to control the state sponsored terrorism. It is all about the peoples
who are willing to stand against the tide.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Blakeley, Ruth. “State Terrorism in the Social Sciences.” In Contemporary State Terrorism. Edited by
Richard Jackson, Eamon Murphy and Scott Poynting. New York: Taylor Francis e-
Library, 2009.

Byman, Daniel. Deadly Connections: States that sponsor Terrorism. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2005.

Cherian,M.T. “Impact of Hindu Fundamentalism.” In Hindutva Agenda and Minority Rights: A Christian
Response. India: Center for Contemporary Christianity, 2007.

Koch, Bettina ed. State Terror, State Violence: Global Perspective. USA: Springer, 2016.

Mickler,David.“Dafur’s dread: Contemporary state terrorism in the Sudan.” In Contemporary State

Terrorism, Edited by Richard Jackson, Eamon Murphy and Scott Poynting. New York:
Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.

Murphy,Eamon and Azar Tamana. “State Terrorism and the military In Pakistan.” Incontemporary State
Terrorism.Edited by Richard Jackson, Eamon Murphy and Scott Poynting.New York:
Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.

N.A. State Terrorism, ed. Grace Pelly. New Delhi: Human Rights Law Network. 2009. 71.

JOURNALS:

Mahadevan, Prem. “India and the global discourse on state-sponsored terrorism.”

(December 2017): https://www.orfonline.org/research/india global-discourse-state-
sponsored-terrorism.com . Accessed August 16, 2018.

Jolly, Asit. “Upfront: Welcome to lynchistan,” India Today, August 6, 2018. 8-10.

Tridevi, Divya. “Blind and brutal,” Frontline, August 17, 2018.48-50.