South Asia has faced political violence for a long time. Some of it has been called terrorism. However, counter-terrorism came on global agenda after a major terror attack was launched on the US on 9/11. Though the US has managed to thwart terror after that, south Asia has not been equally lucky. Most south Asian nations still have been facing the problem of terrorism, and if anything the problem of terrorism has only intensified in several cases. Nevertheless, some positive developments have also been noticed on this front during the last one or two years. This has placed south Asia at a crucial juncture where further cooperation can help the region overcome this problem.
Terrorism has so far defied an agreed definition. But after 9/11 there seems to be a growing opinion that this disadvantage should not be allowed to come in the way of fighting a phenomenon, which is harmful to everyone. The United Nation’s Resolution 1390 (2002) adopted by the Security Council at its 4452nd meeting, on 16 January 2002 reaffirmed that acts of international terrorism constitute a threat to international peace and security.
Terrorism has influenced domestic political structures in South Asian countries in a negative way. It has encouraged militarism, chauvinism and a distinct tilt towards right-wing extremism. It has been used as an excuse for undermining democracy.
Terrorism has hindered economic development in south Asia. It has imposed heavy economic cost on most of these nations. Direct costs are in the nature of the destruction of infrastructure, factories and standing crops and stoppage of economic activities. Indirect costs are varied and arise out of general loss of confidence in the economy and the consequent inability to attract foreign investment, brain drain, enhanced military expenditure, high transaction costs and various kinds of economic distortions.
Terrorism harms the economy of a country but the terrorist groups themselves require lot of money to carry out their activities. Often these groups finance their activity through drug trade. The terrorist groups also indulge in smuggling of small arms which is used in terrorist violence against the innocent civilians or state. Besides, gun-running is also used as a business to finance their activities.
The terrorist attacks which took place in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001 has brought external forces in south Asia. Whether it has succeeded in containing terrorism or not is arguable.
Almost every country of south Asia is facing problem of terrorism in one form or the other. Some progress was achieved during the Colombo SAARC summit in 2008 where leaders of south Asian countries reached an agreement to put in place a regional legal framework to tackle the scourge. The SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters is expected to strengthen regional cooperation in the fight against cross-border crimes, specially the fight against terrorism.
To achieve this objective, the Convention calls on all member states to provide each other the widest possible measures of cooperation in combating crime by strengthening cooperation in the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes. The support extended is subject to the national laws of the State Parties to the Convention. The Convention outlines the procedure to be followed in investigations, including search and seizure, obtaining evidence, documents and witnesses in the provision of mutual legal assistance. Though the intention is positive, unfortunately the results of SAARC convention have not been so encouraging. This highlights the need for taking a fresh look at regional efforts to tackle terror.
The Conference:
The conference seeks to discuss among others the following questions:
- What kind of problem south Asia faces from Terrorism?
- How have individual countries coped with terrorism?
- What kind of regional cooperation has taken place in south Asia?
- What is the prospect of regional cooperation?
