September, 11, 2001 was the most significant date of the present century that shaped the global geo-political relations. It was on this date that the world saw with disbelief and shock, the footage of the planes-turned missiles destroying the WTC and damaging the Pentagon. It was the worst terrorist attack the world had witnessed and was totally inexcusable and is condemned till date.
Resulting War on Terror: The terrible events of September 11 saw the considerable quieting of what was until then growing domestic and international criticism of the Bush Administration. The September 11 events resulted in a "war on terror" which saw support for Bush and his popularity soar at the time. The subsequent bombing of Afghanistan to attack Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network and Taliban for harbouring them, had led to a mixture of political, social and economic reaction around the world. The inhumane act performed by the Arab extremists/terrorist on September, 11, 2001 generated a feeling of hatred and anti-Islam, without distinguishing the despotic militants from ordinary Muslims.
Death of Osama Bin Laden- Is This the End of War on Terrorism??? The death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of the U.S. military is not is not going to end the "war on terror"-a phrase that has fallen out of fashion since Barack Obama entered the White House (his administration uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation"). The victims of the September, 11 attack are viewing his end as a sense of justice and a much needed closure of emotional trauma. But we need to keep in mind that even without bin Laden to lead it, Al Qaeda will continue. This means that the ugly war of terrorism against the humanity is not ended as of now. This long struggle has not been about one man vs. another; it has been about ideas, about faith, and, most of all, about freedom. Those who have elected to be combatants on the side of the forces of darkness that Al Qaeda represents will likely now seek to avenge the death of their leader rather than go gently into the night. Terror is real and is not the product of the effort of one man alone. The contest between freedom and tyranny is real, and cannot be won because one man passes from the scene. There will always be another tyrant to take his or her place.
Osama's death may lead to a new breed of terrorists: Osama's name had become synonymous to terror and brutal massacre of thousands affecting millions across the world in the pretext of terrorism. But does his death mean the end of such brutality? With the terrorism network spread far and wide, terrorist groups are rampant with cluster units functioning exclusively to broaden Osama's ideology of mass destruction across the world. Osama had converted Al-Qaeda into an organization that undertook terrorist activities to a propaganda hub and that is capable of mobilizing youth into a movement against liberal ideologies. With many members in the Osama core group either captured or killed, there are many other recruits who still have the capacity to take over the reins of terror from Osama. The death of Osama Bin Laden is worth cheering but we need to remember that, his organization al-Qaida is a hydra with many heads and unfortunately there are many other operational and symbolic leaders in al-Qaeda. In spite of the death of Osama Bin Laden, that is no doubt historic in nature, will mean the end of terrorism remains to be seen and in fact, the world must be ready to face fresh terrorist attacks in retaliation. The arms of terrorism have spread out and have got into the psyche of youth across the world for whom terrorism has been uttered in the same sentence as jihad.
Bin Laden's Death Will Have a Greater Impact on Pakistan: Policy wise there is not going to be a much difference on war in Afghanistan and undeclared war in Pakistan. But Laden's death and that too in Pakistan is definitely going to impact the nation in a big way. Pakistan had consistently maintained that Laden was not sheltering on Pakistani soil and he be searched in Afghanistan. The Pakistani stance was part of a wider policy of denial, dating back to the 9/11 attacks, premised on the argument that Pakistan was not the source and springboard for Islamist-inspired terrorism but rather its principal victim. Pakistan is thus caught in an awkward and highly embarrassing position, as the government has always denied that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. The death of Laden also highlights the failure of Pakistan to deal forcefully with its own violent Islamists forces, the so called Pakistani Taliban. Another notable fact is that the US did not tell the Pakistan about the final mission against Laden, fearing that the information would not be secure, clearly indicates the breach of faith in Pakistan of the USA. Pakistan is also in the danger of facing retaliation for the killing of Laden because the extremist in the country are suspicious of involvement of the national government in harbouring Laden's death. Thus, Pakistan naturally faces potential internal national security threat. Another major fear factor for Pakistan now would be to ensure completely safety of its security establishments and the tribal populations, as they might come in line of attack of the next generation of Al-Qaeda fighters.
Balancing the relations with the US would be the top most priority of Pakistan. America's relationship with Pakistan would become central in determining the heightened threat of a terrorist attack following the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Pakistan's role in the killing - either by collaborating with the US or by helping to hide the world's most wanted man - would be heavily scrutinised in the coming days. The fact that Laden was killed in a town where Pakistan gives training to its military cadets clearly highlights that Pakistan commitment on the War on Terror and insurgency was very qualified. The question clearly arises in our mind that can we really trust Pakistan? On the second probability that the Pakistani government was aware of and co-operated with Americans to kill Laden on Pakistani soil, would feed into the anti-Americanism that's been coming up in Pakistan in the last 10 years or even before that. In all probabilities Laden's death will definitely rupture the American-Pakistan relations. Thus it's very important for Americans at the moment to constantly point out that killing Osama doesn't mean Pakistan is losing its significance and doesn't also mean the end of the American and West, including Australian, support of Pakistan."
What can be the repercussions for India: Strategic Implications: - The death of Osama alarms India to tread cautiously because his death would impact the psychology of the terror groups within the country. The suspected terror groups in India like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and others still looked up to Osama as their hero and worshipped him and it was the 9/11 attack which drew them to take up the cause of so called jihad. Osama had a lot of sympathizers within India too. Certain strong pockets in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh saw him as a hero and they termed him as Sheikh Osama. For them Osama was no ordinary man, but he was viewed as the man who took on America single handedly. This kind of bravado is what they looked for in their leader and this prompted them to easily take to terrorism. This death may unleash a new series of revengeful terror attacks globally and India may straight away come in the spotlight of the terror groups.
Internal Security of India Needs to be put on High Alert: In spite of welcoming the news of Bin Laden's death as a "victorious milestone" in the war against terrorism, India cannot afford to show a lax behaviour regarding its internal security scenario. We should not forget that Pakistan still provides safe heavens and sanctuaries to terrorist, which can anytime be used against us for possible reprisal attacks following bin Laden's death. Our intelligence network and security forces must be kept on high alert to deal with all kinds of unforeseen circumstances. We need to continue our united effort to overcome terrorism and eliminate the safer heavens and sanctuaries that have been provided to terrorist in our neighbourhood. Our struggle against terrorism must continue unabated. Though our distrust for Pakistan continues, we should continue the recent attempts at boosting diplomatic dialogue with our nuclear-armed neighbour.
Current Affairs
China has announced an ambitious five-year plan to explore outer space. The plan includes China's previously-stated goals of putting a man on the moon and building a space station. As per its ambitious plan, China will deploy space laboratories, launch manned spaceships and space freighters, and make technological preparations for the construction of space station by the end of 2016. It should be noted that China has already made sound progress in space exploration and research but it still lags far behind the United States and Russia in space technology and experience.
e political instability in Nepal seems to be looming large and is definitely getting worse. Nepal has elected its fourth prime minister in four years. Dr Baburam Bhattarai of Unified Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist (UCPN-M) is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) of India, where in 1986 he earned his PhD in underdevelopment and the regional structure of Nepal. Dr Bhattarai had graduated from Punjab University, Chandigarh and studied for a masters in the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi. He is Nepal’s second Maoist prime minister after Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, whose term lasted nine months in 2008-09. Bhattarai was one of the lead negotiators of the Maoists before and after the people’s movement of 2006 that overthrew the monarchy in Nepal. One can recollect that the rebels, represented by Dr Bhattarai’s Maoist’s party, fought a decade-long guerrilla campaign against the former monarchy until joining the United Nations-supervised peace process in 2006. The monarchy was eventually removed from power in 2008 but more than 16,000 people had died in the civil war.
