India's strategic role against global jihad

WALID PHARES, Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies states the global salafist jihadi network would continue to expand, co-ordinate and assist each other against their foes most of whom were constrained by a lack of similar co-operation against jihadi terror as well as confusion regarding separatist conflicts which were often construed as resistance movements and not terrorism. In a speech to the Asian Security Conference 2010 at New Delhi, "The Future of Terrorism: Jihadi threat in the Indian Subcontinent", he proposes internationalization of the counter-jihadi strategy where India could play a significant part in the region in integrating the resources of democracies in the region and eventually of all jihadi-targeted countries.

Terror’s Training Ground

Ayesha Siddiqua claims that South Punjab has become a jihadist hub due to a potent mix of economic stagnation, Islamist fundamentalism, and ideological indoctrination at madrassas. In an article “Terror’s Training Ground” in the Daily News, she also claims that the authorities continue to be in denial while the number of madrassas in the Punjab rose to 3000+, converting people to Salafism and training jihadis and the state apparatus as well as the political parties have tieups with the militant groups. She concludes that a reexamination of the strategic partnership between the militants and the state apparatus as well as investments in social development would be the way to go about fixing the problem, rather than military deployment.