By TCN News,
Aligarh: “The corporatization, politicization and trivialization of the Indian electronic media is hindering and hampering the fight against terrorism in India” said Lt. Gen. (Retired) SS Mehta while delivering the inaugural address at a national seminar on “Terrorism in South Asia: Issues and Challenges,” organised by the Department of Political Science at the Aligarh Muslim University today.
Gen. Mehta said that the on-going trend in the media for producing a “Breaking News” by sensationalizing news events often results in the “arrests of innocent persons,” which ultimately does not help in the larger fight against terrorist elements.
Lt. Gen. Mehta addressing the seminar on Terrorism in South Asia
General Mehta, who has served as Deputy Chief of Army Staff, said that South Asia today is a critical zone in the world in the battle against terrorism. He said that certain sections in the West have “wrongly promoted” the theory of “Clash of Civilizations” for rationalizing their own theory regarding the proliferation of terrorism.
He said that an impartial understanding of the real historical background of present conflicts in the world would in fact suggest that the East represents the “confluence of civilizations.” He said that contrary to what the West has projected, the dominant theme among the people of South Asia was “empathy” and their mantra was “your pain is my pain.”
Lt. Gen. Mehta said that if India wishes to achieve a “dominant status as a world power”, it would have to “emerge as a key player in controlling the cyber space”. He pointed out that presently smaller Asian countries like “Indonesia and Sri Lanka were setting a benchmarks in the sphere of controlling cyber space.”
India cannot afford not to take cognizance of this trend, he added.
Delivering the keynote address at the Seminar, Air Commodore (Retired) Jasjit Singh said, “Political exploitation, alienation of the common man and the increasing divide between the privileged and underprivileged sections of society was a major factor behind the proliferation of domestic terrorism in India”.
Comm. Jasjit said that “90% domestic terrorists were in the age group “between 15-24 years.” He said that if the battle against the terrorism has to be won, then the “alienation of these segments will have to be addressed and resolved by channelizing their energies in a positive direction.”
They will have to be prevented from getting trapped by those antinational forces who always would try to exploit this frustration in the youth.
Comm. Jasjit said, “Islam is a religion of peace but some forces in Pakistan had deliberately distorted the concept of Jihad” and were instrumental in fanning the flames of violence. He said that this trend began after the defeat of Pakistan in the Bangladesh War and was “fully exploited by the late General Ziaul Haq”.
Commodore Jasjit said that the Aligarh Muslim University was a very prestigious national institution of higher learning and “could serve as a beacon of inspiration for leading the younger generation of the country”.
Among those who addressed the two-day seminar today, was retired Commodore Chitrapu Uday Bhaskar. The Pro-Vice Chancellor, Brigadier Syed Ahmad Ali was also present on the occasion.
Delivering the Presidential Address at the inauguration session, the Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University, Lt. General (Retired) Zameer Uddin Shah urged AMU students to “fully channelize their energies in achieving excellence in academic field”. He assured them that if they were successful in this endeavour, then they would have “no reason to worry about their career prospects in future life”.
General Shah said that he was a firm believer in promoting the basic ideals of democracy including in the educational institutions. He said that the elections of AMU Students’ Union will be held at an early date.
Dr. Iqbalur Rahman, Seminar Director welcomed the delegates and urged the University to revive the Centre for Strategic Studies. Dr. Rachna Kaushal conducted the programme and Prof. Shabahat Husain, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences proposed a vote of thank.