As yet another series of orchestrated bomb attacks ripped
apart Brussels, the functional capital of European Union, the colossal terror
network seems to have strengthened its footprint across the globe. The
stranglehold of global terrorism which has inevitably paralyzed the Middle East
of Asia and North Africa sapping their vitality and financial treasures is now
spreading its tentacles to the West. The despicable rise of terrorism and its
gradual metastasis has already claimed unimaginably high numbers of victims. The
twin suicidal bomb attacks at the Zaventam airport during the busy morning
hours at the airport and another explosion at the Maelbeek metro station (close
to top notch European institutions) claimed 37 lives so far. The element of
surprise associated with suicidal attacks wasn’t too obvious as terror strikes
were anticipated to avenge the arrest of the prized cache, Salah Abdelslam,
mastermind of 13/11 Paris attacks. Terror experts indicated that the attacks
might be the handiwork of IS, whose central agenda has always been creating
panic among the masses. On expected lines, IS soon claimed the responsibility
of the attacks. Following the attacks, the city with one million population
is shut down. Brussels has a unique distinction of being the Centre of European
integration and by bringing the city to its knees, the terror elements
unabashedly challenged the European identity. The terror attacks in a happening
city raised serious doubts about the vulnerability and propensity of these
iconic western cities.
Invariably, brutal terror strikes, especially those occurring
in the west have become matter of intense debate. By now it has become
increasingly clear that Western adventurism across the globe for larger strategic
gains coupled with its uncanny alignment with extremist ideologues for
resources propelled the rise in the terror outfits. Terrorism of late has
evolved as a state policy of many players because of its low cost-benefit
ratio. The cost of nurturing and patronizing a terror operative turns out to be
negligible when compared to the economic and psychological damage inflicted on
enemy countries. No other country can analyze and evaluate the extent of damage
better than India which has been a victim of terror for several decades.
Coming to the current context of why Belgium? Experts
unequivocally reprimanded Belgium for a slackened security surveillance but in
reality it turns out that the country has been a safe den for terror outfits. A
detailed study observed that Belgium has highest number Saudi sponsored Imams
stationed in its mosques making it an epicenter of jihadism in Europe. Further
a disproportionately large number of Belgian citizens travelled to Middle East
to join the jihadi group than any other European country. Belgium a country of
11 million due to various reasons has been grappling with issues of ethnic and
linguistic division making integration of immigrants more difficult. Split
identities, discrimination too augured drifting of society. Moreover, the fractures
continued to exist as the Belgian civic authorities like police, judicial
system and intelligence agencies too fostered the fragmentation. Eventually
poor immigrants failed to find work and assimilate in the society. Politicians
have focused their attention on addressing issues along linguistic (Dutch vs
French) and ethnic identities (Fleming, Walloon or Bruxellios) undermining the
national problems. Further, the anti-immigrant policies advocated by the right-wing
political parties pushed further pushed these groups into a dock. With relative
ease in obtaining weapons cheaply, jihadism began to make deeper roots into the
sub-urban regions like Molenbeek in Belgium. Molenbeek, a north-western suburb
of Brussels has a large population of unemployed Muslims, isolated from the
central authorities has become an ideal ground for indoctrination. It has
become a protected shelter for nefarious activities with law enforcement
agencies refusing to enter. Incidentally even the only living terror operative
of the Paris attacks was arrested four days ago from Molenbeek raising serious
doubts about the suburb. Besides it was also believed that the security
agencies of Belgium are poorly staffed. Current attacks have shone light on the
existence of Islamic extremism in Europe. Needless to say, the asinine European
policies turned the region into a perfect breeding ground for Islamic fundamentalism.
Another important aspect highlighted by increased propensity of Belgium to
terrorism is that of integration.
While it is known fact that the north western border of
Europe largely inhabited by immigrant Muslims is a fertile ground for
anti-Semitic and anti-western Islamist ideologues, the areas were allowed to
fester. Consequently the regions have become spring beds for discrimination,
poor assimilation making them a cesspool for radicalization. Lack of political
will and coordinated assimilation program has further exacerbated the
situation. In part the exiguous socio-economic factors in these regions have
promoted Islamic radicalisation which was facilitated by the unhindered
financial and ideological support from the Middle East nation. The process of
embracing the violence to bring about a change is highly disastrous. The
invincible presence of the terror outfits on the social media is making the
process of radicalization even more swift, unencumbered and enticing. All the
countries with large proportion of unchannelized energies are at risk of being
drawn into the cult of radicalization.
Presently Europe is going through a precarious phase of
migrant influx. The open borders in Europe can present a formidable task for
nabbing the terror operatives. Since the neighboring countries of Belgium
already burdened by their problems of accommodating the refugees may for brief
period consider clamping down the free movement of men. Moreover through border
controls and checks may further help in tracking suspicious activities. But the
key issue that needs serious contemplation is that of assimilation of refugees
into Europe. While this is one facet of the current terror attacks, the open
declaration of IS in which it claimed responsibility of Brussels attacks had
warned all the countries part of US-led coalition of similar strikes. Undoubtedly
while the current attack is a retaliatory strike, the larger question remains
as how will the West overcome the hideous monstrosity of IS.
In this context, the deafening silence of the international
community to the terrorist attacks in parts of World other than the west is
humiliating. In the last fortnight IS struck twice in Turkey killing several
innocent people. The brutal assault on the tourists in Ivory Coast hardly
received any attention. Similarly the continuing air raids by the Saudi-led
coalition on the poorest country of the Middle East, Yemen are completely
ignored. March 15th marked the completion of 5 years of Syrian war
and still the war torn country finds hardly any reprieve. Needless to say, the
terror strikes on India from across its western border continues to haunt
Delhi. While the global nations continues to be raged by the menace of
terrorism, it is highly unfortunate that a collective global action against
terror failed to evolve as yet. Despite the grievous terror attacks on several
countries, rich nations are busy taking sides to foster their strategic
interests instead of annihilating the roots of the terror. Brussels attacks has
once again necessitated the need for global intervention to check the
burgeoning reign of terror.
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