Terrorist Attacks: Wake Up Call For UK – OpEd
A number of terrorist attacks have taken place in United Kingdom in recent weeks that have rattled the Britishers and have caused huge concern to the UK government. Now, it has taken a turn for the worse, when a white man has driven his vehicle into a crowd of Muslims, triggering a hate war. Obviously, the UK government is clueless and appears to be not sure of the strategies that are needed to tackle the grim situation.
It is now absolutely necessary that UK government has to take some very strong and ruthless steps to identify the terrorists and punish them severely, creating a sense of fear among the terrorists. In the process, it is possible that UK government may be accused by some sections of suppressing the freedom and indulging in arbitrary arrests and human rights violation. However, the British government has to necessarily take harsh steps in dealing with the terrorists and those suspected of terrorist links, unmindful of the criticism.
While the British government would certainly be justified in taking such strong actions to protect it’s territory and people from terrorists, it should recollect for a moment as to how it viewed the efforts of other countries, in the past, who used harsh measures to protect their territorial integrity and put down terrorists and separatists.
One cannot but remember at this juncture that the earlier British government was unduly harsh on Sri Lankan government and criticized it for indulging in human rights violations, when Sri Lankan government was fighting with it’s back to the wall against the terrorists who indulged in armed attacks and guerilla warfare. Britain was one of the countries which initiated action against Sri Lanka in United Nations , criticizing it for human rights violation, when Sri Lanka was really waging a war to protect the territorial integrity of the country and to ensure that Sri Lanka would exist as one nation.
It is well known that Indian government is now having a tough time in dealing with the separatists in Jammu & Kashmir, who are backed by global terrorist groups with arms and money. Indian government has no alternative other than sending it’s troops to defeat the terrorists who are mixing with the local people. India was under British rule for several centuries and Jammu &Kashmir problem for India happened at the time of partition when Britishers left India. Therefore, the problem in Jammu & Kashmir is very well known to the British government.
However, so far, the British government has not unequivocally condemned the terrorists and their activities in Jammu & Kashmir and has not extended visible support to India in it’s fight against terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.
In the past, there have been number of instances, when UK had given asylum or permitted people from other countries to stay in Britain who were accused of causing terrorism in some other countries. When the affected countries appealed to UK government not to allow such elements to stay in UK and carry on their activities , their appeals were ignored in the name of protecting freedom for people.
The UK government now finds that it too, like Sri Lankan government and Indian government , has to adopt repressive measures to protect it’s soil from the terrorists.
Now, facing terrorist attacks on it’s soil, the UK government is experiencing how the terrorist elements can destabilize the peace and cause havoc. It is facing the same predicament in dealing with the terrorists that was faced by Sri Lankan government earlier and Indian government now in Jammu & Kashmir.
The UK government has to realize that fighting terrorism can not be a one way affair and it cannot ignore terrorism in some other part of the world or describe anti terrorist activities of other countries as human rights violation, while condemning terrorism on it’s own soil and taking harsh steps to put down such terrorism.
