The national anti-terrorism day is noticed in the third week of May that is the 21st to aware people and the youth about terrorism and its effects on human sufferings and their lives. We Indians can never forget the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the Uri attack in 2016, the 2019 Pulwama attack, and the most recent one on April 3, 2021, the Sukma-Bijapur attack. There have been more than 12000+ terrorist incidents in India since 1970 that led to 19000+ deaths. Therefore, this day expresses anger and shows solidarity with humanity.
Terrorism is an act of spreading fear of death among people by dreadful acts. It is an unlawful act of force and violence against persons and property to intimidate a government or citizens to oppose a political or social objective. Generally, there are two types of terrorism which are domestic and international. Terrorist attacks are mostly observed near key facilities such as the military, government, utility, other high-profile sites, or public gathering places. It is important to aware of youth or students about terrorism to not involve themselves in such terrorist activities. As per The Print, “It is intriguing to take note of that out of India’s populace of over 172.2 million Muslims (establishing 14.23 percent of the Indian populace), under 100 transients (in a few clumps) are thought to have left for the ISIS domains in Syria and Afghanistan.”
What Happened on 21st May?
This day observed after the assassination of our 7th Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated in Tamil Nadu by the terrorist on 21 May 1991. India’s 7th Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi went to Tamil Nadu to attend a rally in which a woman who was a member of an LTTE (Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam a terrorist) group came in front of him. She had explosives under her clothes and suddenly the explosion took place in which Rajiv Gandhi and approx 25 others were killed. Since then, the central government under Vishwanath Pratap Singh, a former prime minister decided to observe this day as the Anti-Terrorism Day.
The motto of this day is to promote the message of peace, humanity, harmony, unity among people and make people enlighten about the anti-social acts of terrorism. The deadliest five terror attacks shook the entire nation and we still get goosebumps when we remember the days:
- 1993 Bombay Blasts
- 2001 Parliament Attack
- 2006 Mumbai Train Bombing
- 2008 26/11 Mumbai Attack
- 2019 Pulwama Attack
Terrorism in India
India faces a number of attacks from Islamic groups in Kashmir, separatist terrorism, secessionist groups in Assam, and left-wing terrorism.
India divides terrorism into 4 prime groups that are:
- Religious terrorism
- Narco-terrorism
- Ethno-nationalist terrorism
- Left-wing terrorism
What is UAPA Law?
UAPA refers to the unlawful activities prevention act 1967, which has come to tackle terrorism and Naxalism in the country. In 2019, the UAPA Bill has been passed in the parliament to change certain provisions of the 1967 act.
Application of this Act –
- It is applied to the whole nation.
- Any foreign or Indian will be charged under UAPA for punishment irrespective of the crime location.
- These provisions will be applied to the citizens of India and abroad.
Prior, just the association was utilized to assign as fear-based oppressor gatherings however now after the adjustment of the UAPA Act people can likewise be suspected as psychological militants.
This law is the primary enemy of psychological warfare law in power in India. This law was established in 1967 to force sensible limitations on the rights to the right to speak freely of discourse and articulation, serene gathering, and the development of affiliations or associations in light of a legitimate concern for the trustworthiness and power of India.
Anti-Terrorism Pledge
Service of Home Affairs has encouraged to make Anti-Terrorism promise that might be taken seriously in all the Government workplaces, public organizations and public endeavors in their workplaces/rooms itself to stay away from any get-togethers because of the Covid-19.
The pledge is: “We, the people of India, having abiding faith in our country’s tradition of non-violence and tolerance, hereby solemnly affirm to oppose with our strength, all forms of terrorism and violence. We pledge to uphold and promote peace, social harmony, and understanding all fellow human beings and fight the forces of disruption threatening human lives and values.”
India is a part of 13 sectoral conventions on terrorism adopted by the UN that aims to provide a comprehensive legal framework to counter-terrorism. Our country strongly supports all the efforts by the United Nation that strengthen international and regional cooperation to fight against terrorism. The world can only be free of terrorism if all the countries together fight against it with progress in strengthening counter-terrorism and exchange of information at the international, regional, and sub-regional levels. The government gives justice to innocent victims of terror attacks or loss of their lives.
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