A Criminologist's Dairy-49

A Criminologist’s Diary-49

Account Criminology and Criminal Ju...

From Extremism to Terrorism

People in India , it seems to me, are confused of (1)extremism,(2) fundamentalism,(3)fanaticism,(4)terrorism,(5)insurgency as they think that all of them are one and the same. I think that they must be made clear of the concepts-

(1) Extremism means a “tendency or disposition to go to the extremes. This is seen in political as well as in religious matters. Therefore, an extremist is a person who goes to extremes.esp.in political or religious matters or in both. There are supporters and advocates of extreme doctrines and practices in both politics and in religion.

(2) Fundamentalism, though identified as a movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20^th century in reaction to modernism, it is now considered as “ strict adherence to any set of ideas or beliefs which the fundamentalists hold as necessary and inevitable for the salvation of the people and society( see Webster’s). The Naxlites in India, the religious and political fundamentalists all over the country come under this category.

(3) Fanaticism, i.e., Fanatics, people with an extreme or uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or in politics. They have no tolerance or they have excessive or overweening devotion to a cause or belief. In other words, an unbalanced or obsessive behavior (see Random House College Dictionary) is noticed.

(4) (4)Terrorism, as seen in Webster’s is the use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes. The terrorists resort to an activity that terrorizes or frightens the people, the purpose of which is nothing but destabilize the Government in power. They are dangerous people who, though not direct their activities to a particular person or people, they keep a society under fierce terror. In India, several such terrorists’ attacks have been reported recently. In fact, an extremist can become a fundamentalist who in turn may become a fanatic and later to a terrorist. A graph can be drawn basing on the narration given above.

(5) Insurgency: is an insurrection against an existing Government usually one’s own, by a group not recognized as having the status of a belligerent (Random House Dictionary).Hence, an insurgent is a person who rises in forcible opposition to lawful authority esp. a person who engages in armed resistance to a Government or to the execution of its laws. Here again, an extremist can become an insurgent and in India, insurgency is seen in Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir ,Bihar, Orissa and it is seen as fighting against armed forces .No doubt, insurgency is a serious situation and the insurgents are, it is suspected/confirmed, assisted, supported, encouraged or promoted by Governments outside India. Thus there exists an expression like ‘Cross border Terrorism’.

As the people are confused about the subtle differences among the terms, they use and/ or misuse the words. They say ‘extremism’ instead of ‘terrorism ‘or’ fundamentalism’ and ‘terrorism’ instead of fanaticism. They confuse ‘terrorism’ with ’insurgency’. People with little or no knowledge in the subject come to T.V .platforms to say ‘this and that’ about this delicate topic and cause confusion among the people. The media should avoid such people to discuss on this issue .They cannot substitute experts in the topic and precisely therefore, such type of T.V. discussions must be discouraged at any cost.