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Executive Luncheon Series

The Role of South Asia in the New War on Terrorism - An India Perspective

Speaker: Dr. K. Subrahmanyam

Chairman: Prof. Yonah Alexander, International Center for Terrorism Studies

Date: October 4, 2001

Location: Potomac Institute for Policy Studies

Executive Summary

In a presentation at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Dr. K. Subrahmanyam, Covener for the National Security Board of India and author, addressed an audience of academia and ambassadors from around the globe regarding terrorism as it pertains to South Asia. He began by saying that drug trade and money laundering operations finance terrorist activities and extremist ideologies. These extremists, he said, want to culturally "turn back the clock." Rather than through popularity, he said, the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan with only a small military force by buying off the local chieftains.

Those countries that support terrorism in South Asia need to be "de-Jihadized," in the same way that Germany was de-Nazified and Japan was de-militarized after World War II, he proposed. He went on to say that, until the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, people were beginning to believe that ideological conflicts, such as Cold War, were obsolete.

Dr. Subrahmanyam then presented his suggestions on how to effectively combat terrorism. First, he said, nations need to cooperate and work to shut down terrorist sources of funding, namely, drug trade and money laundering operations. Second, Islamic clerics need to speak up and denounce terrorists' corruption of the concept of Jihan, since Islamic teaching forbids such violence against innocent citizens.

A global, multi-country coalition effort against terrorism is required, he stated. He also called for an ecumenical conference of all religions to meet and agree that they hold certain core values, of which terrorist acts are not a part.

Dr. Subrahmanyam concluded his presentation by saying, "The whole world is becoming multi-cultural. Homogeneous populations are becoming obsolete, so we need an ecumenical effort to live together in tolerance of differing religions."

Following Dr. Subrahmanyam's comments, the event's chairman, Prof. Yonah Alexander, stated that, "We currently have crisis of culture," which is being expressed through intolerance and violence. To combat this, Prof. Alexander called for four necessary responses:

Philosophical: We need to promote the concept that violence against one amounts to violence against all,

Theological: Islamic clerics, for example, need to speak out against violence: "The problem is not Islam; the problem is terrorism,"

Educational: "People are being educated in hatred," and this must be changed, and

Communicative: The Internet is becoming an educational tool – not for peace – but for violence. Thus, any effective communications campaign against the culture of terrorism must address the new frontiers of communications as well as the traditional.