Will World Learn from Bondi Hit?

Since the last few decades terrorism has, unquestionably, become the scourge of the modern world. The latest major terror incident has been the horrific attack in Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach in Sydney, with two Islamist terrorists gunning down 16 innocent civilians celebrating the first day of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which has been condemned all over the world. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the attack as a “devastating” event, clarifying that it was a “targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith”. He further added that “there is no place for this hate, violence and terrorism in our nation”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while strongly condemning this incident and expressing solidarity with Australia, declared that “India has zero tolerance towards terrorism and supports the fight against all forms and manifestations of terrorism”. While the Australian Islamist father-and-son duo who gunned down the holidaying Jews, according to reports till now, may have been radicalised in Islamic State ideology while on a visit to Pakistan many years ago, the father — who was killed in retaliation after the attack — had his origins in Hyderabad and still carried an Indian passport. The son, who was captured, is fighting for his life in a Sydney hospital. According to the police, both had travelled recently to the Philippines, where they may have got weapons training. That the number of those killed in the horrific attack was not larger was thanks to the efforts of a Muslim fruit shop owner who bravely got hold of the killer father and handed him over to the local police. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that several Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were found near the site of the attack. Ever since the Israeli retaliation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, over two years back, a few isolated incidents, relatively less violent in intensity, have occurred targeting the Jewish community Down Under. In August this year, Australia had accused Iran of masterminding two anti-Semitic arson attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, and had directed the Iranian ambassador to leave the country.While the United States, Britain, France, Canada and the Middle East region, including Israel and Syria, have been afflicted with terror activities, off and on, the South Asian region, comprising India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and the fountainhead of terror activities, Pakistan, has been regularly plagued by continuous acts of terrorist violence. Most security analysts are clear that a majority of terror strikes, starting from the horrendous 9/11 attacks in the United States and later the November 2008 Mumbai attack and those elsewhere in India and Afghanistan, are all Pakistani-sponsored and executed. Pakistan, which is now afflicted with home-grown terror itself, whether from the Afghanistan Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or Baloch rebels, is now reaping all the evil it had sown, especially in its neighbourhood. As the footprint of terror activities is spreading all across the civilised world, despite many warnings to the international community, very little has been done collectively done by the global community, and its toothless watchdog, the United Nations or its Security Council. Unfortunately, instead of striving for a peaceful law-abiding global order, many nations remain in pursuit of their own selfish interests and thus are fixated on their brand of selective terrorism. It’s not for nothing that the world, or the UN, has been unable to agree on a definition of terrorism or a terrorist. While the latter, to most people, is an evil person pursuing violence against unarmed civilians, amazingly, to some people the same person is seen as a social reformer or a freedom-fighter! This anomaly has to end before the world can unite in the fight against global terror.Most security analysts agree that both the United States and China are not doing enough globally to contain terrorism and they conveniently cast a blind eye on nations who are clearly fostering these evil activities in their respective neighbourhood. UN-designated terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and their many splinter groups roam free inside Pakistan masquerading as charitable groups.Pakistan, universally, stands out as the epicentre and citadel of global terror, but unfortunately it derives part of its strength and largesse from the US and China to continue its ill-gotten and inhuman endeavours both among its neighbours, such as India and Afghanistan, but even within its own country. It is high time that these two powerful nations end their support to Pakistan as a major sponsor of terror activities. If the United States does not do so, it should not be taken by surprise if there is a repeat of the 9/11 attacks on its soil. Many in the US who fully comprehend the nuances of the global security paradigm are surprised at the Trump administration’s new-found love for Pakistan, forgetting the latter’s relentless pursuit of terror activities in the past. How can America now conveniently forget that the world’s most dreaded terrorist, Osama bin Laden, designated as such by both the US and the UN, was captured and killed by US special forces after he was found hiding for years in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, with Islamabad supposedly ignorant of this fact. India, which was consistently targeted by terrorism emanating from Pakistan, will have to further strengthen its counter-terror structures. It must work in tandem with all nations afflicted by terror to shape global counter-terror narratives, including using platforms like the UN, FATF, etc. Pakistan needs to be isolated before its current de facto military ruler, Field Marshal Asim Munir, runs amuck exporting terrorism, which comes naturally to him, being a former chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. India needs to be militarily strong to serve as a deterrent to any mischief emanating from Pakistani soil.



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