Twelve Essays on Terrorism

Edited by Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee
Publisher: Pentagon Press
ISBN: 9788182749429 (Pp: 245, Rs 795)

The scourge of terrorism, which has injected a sense of despondency in India, has been a topic of discourse at a deeper level for any think tank. This is what Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), a non-partisan institute for dialogue on national concerns, in New Delhi has set as its objective to produce this book Twelve Essays on Terrorism containing twelve prolific essays written by the scholars from the foundation. Each essay is representative of one facet of terrorism or the other.

Surfaced right from the dawn of independence, India has been afflicted with several shades of insurgencies, as it usually happens with almost every new nation state. In the eighties, there had been new turns of anti-nationalism manifesting in the form of rise of ‘terrorism’—it appeared first in Punjab, then in Kashmir, and Maoist dwelling in some parts of central India. In the meantime, unable to retain relevance, remnant insurgencies in various parts of North-East states have taken to terrorist activities.

Digging into causes, roots, ramifications and sustenance of terrorism, the essays in this book are written through diverse global and domestic perspectives. Study and analysis in such way is therefore prime responsibility for the thinking and scholastic community. Among the contributors are Alvite Singh Ningthoujam, who takes on an Indian perspective of ISIS and its South Asian connection. Rohit Singh in his essay narrates about international terrorism post 9/11. Similarly, other contributors, Lt Gen Gautam Baneejee (who edited the book), Navroz Singh, Tariq Karim, among others, share facts and their thoughts on the issue to bring out the new facets of understanding and control of terrorism.