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Terror: A Humane Approach
Are their
lessons for
India in what UK
is doing for its kids?
Priyaleen K
Renuka
 Till
now we had only heard of secret torture prison camps, hell holes
like the
Guantanamo
Bay or similar such facilities run by the developed world to counter
the increasing polarity between the Islamic and the rest of the
world.
But the
UK seems to have
taken the lead by taking a more humane approach to the problem of
Islamist extremism than has been the case the world over till now.
Ever since the rise of the Islamist terror movement against the
Western world in the 1980s, and post it reaching its zenith during
the September 11, 2001 World Trade Centre attack in the United
States, most countries facing the threat have simply responded with
a kneejerk reaction involving an immediate political, economic and
social backlash.
Britain, too,
till now has been equally guilty of being a leading perpetrator of
the Western world’s brand of extremism in dealing with the Muslim
world.
As a result of
what is now widely recognized as the West’s consistent and thorough
hate propaganda against the community, Muslims around the world have
become one of the most reviled, oppressed and marginalised
communities, forcing many to regroup with the extremist elements in
their community as a pure self defence tactic and in a bid to fight
for some of the basic human rights that they have been denied.
Britain, which
has transgressed many of these human rights itself, seems to have
realized that the way to go forward is not alone and in isolation,
but together and with a studied effort to understand the root cause
of the problem and dealing with it with the empathy and compassion
that it deserves.
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Is it time
for the rest of the world to follow in the footsteps of
UK,
which has launched an unprecedented effort to reach out to
prevent young ones from slipping into the hate groove?
India
will do well to ensure that its kids do not trip on Hindutva-inspired
hatred or the venom of a self-proclaimed jihadi. |
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In a move that
could potentially forge a roadmap for dealing with the global threat
of Islamist extremist movements without the use of brute force or
illegal occupation of terror ridden countries as has happened in
Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK police have identified at least 200
local schoolchildren, some as young as 13, as potential terrorists
and intends to counsel them in order to help them reconcile
themselves with their extremist tendencies.
“Channel
Project,” started by the Association of Chief Police Officers, had
asked teachers, parents and other community figures to be vigilant
for signs in children in their neighbourhood, schools, etc, that
might indicate an attraction to extreme views or susceptibility to
being “groomed” by radical elements.
The
unprecedented project, funded by the UK Home Office, will see
British police officers working alongside Muslim communities to
identify impressionable children who are at the risk of being
radically motivated or who have shown an interest in extremist
material on the internet or in books.
 Once
identified, these children will be subjected to a programme of
intervention tailored to the needs of the each individual child, an
approach unheard of till now in the Western world’s efforts to deal
with different forms of religious extremism.
Countries like
India and many of its neighbours in the sub-continent, who have also
become active breeding grounds for future hate-filled movements, be
they be from Islamic jihadi domain or the Hindutva's hate agenda,
could do well to take a leaf out of Britain’s book and tackle its
own terrorism-related problems with similar attempts to reach out to
the ommunities in their countries (the majority of whom are
moderate, liberal and decent individuals with an equally acute need
to live normal and happy lives as the rest of us) rather than
isolating them.
Here’s how
Britain
is doing it. Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire
Police and Britain’s most senior officer in charge of terror
prevention said the project will involve discussions with family,
outreach workers or even the local imam to help the children at risk
of being recruited for such movements.
The project
which was started 18 months ago saw the number of children
identified leaping from 10 in June 2008 to about 200 till now. The
programme’s force covers the area in which all four
7 July 2005
bombers grew up.
 Bettison
stressed that the system was not being used to target the Muslim
community. “With the help of these communities we can identify the
kids who are vulnerable to the message and influenced by the
message. The challenge is to intervene and offer guidance, not
necessarily to prosecute them, but to address their grievance, their
growing sense of hate and potential to do something violent in the
name of some misinterpretation of a faith. We are targeting
criminals and would-be terrorists who happen to be cloaking
themselves in Islamic rhetoric. That is not the same as targeting
the Muslim community. Nor was it criminalising children.”
1 April 2009
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