World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 434

Soviet invaders in Afghanistan, transformed themselves into ne extremist force and harboured Bin Laden and incubated global terrorism against U.S.A and others. With in South Asia, Indira Gandhi's short sighted policy of encouraging Bhindranwale as a counter to the Akali Dal's dominance in Punjab led to Sikh terrorism and her own assassination. Like this there are many examples, but the lessons are not learned properly. The unbridled nationalism of some countries is in conflict with the common interest of stamping out terrorism in terms of UNO's strategies. Terrorism and extremism are not confined only to Sri Lanka. It's a growing menace witnessed in the region over the past three and half decades. Regional cooperation among the South Asian nations were sought to resolve many issues. Today, terrorism is the main issue that should be put on the top of the agenda. The fifteenth SAARC Summit in Colombo is an opportunity to give priority to find ways and means to eliminate the menace of terrorism. At the inaugural Summit in Dhaka, 1985, all leaders of the seven nations declared, "Leaders of the South Asian countries reaffirmed their commitment to the UN charter and the principles governing sovereign equality of states, peaceful settlement of disputes, noninterference in internal affairs and non-use or threat of use of force. Terrorism is defined as 'criminal' according to SAARC declaration. After SAARC was born, the region has lost leaders who represented SAARC summits due to extremist or terrorist acts. The first to go in an unexplained air crash was the Pakistani President General Zia UL Haq popularly known as Gen. Zia. The late Pakistani President was a member of the British Indian Army Cavalry Regiment who served the Second World War in 1943. Rajeev was the Indian architect of the Indo-Srilanka accord with the President Jayewardene in July 1987, that paved the way for the presence of Indian troops on the soil to battle the LTTE at a later stage. The killing of Gandhi was a warning to India by the LTTE. But the main culprit, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who masterminded the killing of Gandhi, also killed thousands of troops. He is still hiding in the thick jungles of Mullaitivu, in the small island of Srilanka. After killing Rajeev Gandhi in 1991, the LTTE assassinated the second executive President of Srilanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa who was inspecting his May day rally in 1993. Premadasa also served his nation as the eleventh prime minister for eleven years. President Premadasa at the time of his tragic death was battling the LTTE after peace talks with the terrorist group failed a year before his death. The LTTE as usual made its military build up using the peace talks and the ceasefire to the Premadasa's administration. The second woman leader in the SAARC region and also the first woman Prime minister of a Muslim country, who killed by the extremists at an election. rally in the last December was the former Pakistan Prime minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto. Ms. Bhutto represented her country at the SAARC summit. She weathered the political storm in her country for three decades, went into exile and returned in November 2007 only to be killed a month later. So terrorism and extremism have taken the lives of four prominent leaders who represented
385