Author: Amit Bhattacharya
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: September 23, 2001
Introduction: What makes a terrorist
kill himself and thousand of innocents acts of terror? What is his state
of mind while going into a suicide mission? To understand the pathology
of terrorism, it's important to peep into its psychology. Are there ways
to end the circle of violence?
They are super smart, deadly efficient
and thoroughly brainwashed. And, they have hijacked a Washington-bound
747 with a lethal consignment of nerve gas DZ-5, a single drop of which
can kill a roomful of people. The terrorists are demanding the release
of their leader, or else the deadly cargo would be dumped over the US eastern
seaboard in an act of ultimate terrorism that would wipe out an entire
population.
Hollywood flick Executive Decision
comes chillingly close to the September 11 strikes, when reel turned real
in a devastation that went beyond Hollywood's imagination. Other American
celluloid creations have added grist to the public perception of a terrorist
- some with shocking realism - but few give insight into the question:
What makes a person ready to kill anyone and everyone along with himself
for a 'cause'? The aftershocks of Black Tuesday and the clouds of war it
has generated will eventually die down. Eventually, Hollywood will pick
up the plot for another smashing thriller. But will it still answer the
question: Why do they do it?
Prof Ajit Pal, who formerly taught
psychology at the Delhi University, tries to give a real-life answer. "There's
an extreme feeling of humiliation in a person on a suicide mission," says
he, adding, "the humiliation isn't personal. The person feels his group,
community, nation or religion has been humiliated by an external force."
He adds, "There's a good deal of
autohypnosis involved in preparing for a suicide attack. The person enters
a state of trance, akin to the frenzied feeling generated by group activities
like kirtan-singing or the midnight hallelujah. This state of mind is normal
for any person in a similar situation. However, in a suicide attacker,
this trance-like autohypnotic state leads to neurosis or even psychosis.
This is pathological."
What triggers a willingness to enter
such a state of mind is the nature of the group a person is involved with.
Says B Raman, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, "Organisations
indulging in terrorism have certain common characteristics: There is a
passionate belief in the righteousness of the objective and a strong conviction
that use of terror for achieving that objective is justified. There is
a sincerity, which borders on fanaticism. There is an anger, which is the
product of not an unthinking mind, but of a mind, which is intelligent,
sometimes even highly educated, resourceful and analytical; an anger which
is directed against individual or individuals, community, society or State,
which is perceived by that mind as its principal adversary, whose will
has to be overcome for achieving its objective. There is a tremendous will,
which is fearsome; a will to succeed by prevailing over the will of its
adversary. It is a will, which is ruthless, which admits no restraints
or rules and which makes no distinction between different sections of its
targeted victims. It is a will which has been rendered insensitive by its
passionate urge to achieve its aim and hence is indifferent to the hardships
and sufferings, which it causes even to people for whose cause it claims
to be fighting. It is indifferent to how the society perceives its actions."
Take the case of Harkat-ul-Ansar
conduit Abdul Shakoor (name changed), now lodged in Tihar jail. He was
a student of Madarsa Jamia Islamia-Talimul-Quran in Kupwara district of
Jammu and Kashmir till 1996. He confessed during interrogation, "We had
a blind qari (teacher of the Quran), named Salim in our institution, and
I would always seek his guidance and held him in high esteem. In early
1997, the Delhi Police conducted a raid on our village. They were looking
for Qari Salim. When the police reached there, I accompanied the qari in
his escape." The humiliation of having seen a revered figure having to
escape, was enough for Shakoor to take up the cause. He was caught years
later in Delhi, carrying RDX meant for spreading terror in the Capital.
Shakoor had entered the war.
Typically, a terrorist sees himself
as an important part of a real or perceived struggle, often an epic battle
that will change the world. Says Prof Mark Jurgensmeyer, Director, Global
& International Studies, University of California, who has authored
the book, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence,
"They think of themselves as soldiers in war. In my interviews, one of
the men convicted of blowing up the World Trade Center on the first attempt
in 1993, told me of his frustration that ordinary people didn't see the
great war that he saw. In that sense, acts of terrorism are intended as
shocking performances to pull us into their view of war. In the case of
the recent NYC bombings, I think that they want the US to retaliate in
force - this would accomplish their mission of getting us to be involved
- and getting Muslim states involved in the war that they think is already
going on. They are as frustrated with most Muslim states as they are with
the US, since most people do not see the world in terms of cosmic war."
Another place, another time, but
the 'war' was still real enough for Sajid Ali, a Pak-occupied Kashmir resident,
to join the pro-Pak Hizbul Mujahideen after the Babri Masjid demolition.
"When the mosque was demolished, the maulvi of our region in Pak-occupied
Kashmir, Abdul Aziz, told us that Muslims in India were being subjected
to atrocities. It was the duty of all young Muslims to join the jehad in
Kashmir. I recruited myself," Sajid told the police.
"The mind of a terrorist creates
his own reality, his own ideas and it is to this reality that he reacts,"
says former Punjab Police chief KPS Gill. "This begins through an exercise
in brainwashing, which most of the time takes place at a young age."
This obviously is an intensely psychological
exercise. Explains Prof Pal, "A small group invents its own symbols of
reverence. A member's identity and the cause become 'one and same objects'.
This is constantly reinforced by the presence of similar people around
the person, closing up the circle of indoctrination. All this generates
a suicidal tendency in which a person is willing to sacrifice anything,
including one's life."
The dean of Northeastern University's
criminal justice programme in Boston, James Alan Fox, says there are essentially
two motivations for bombers: revenge and attention. Fox said, "The desire
to make a statement can be that of a well-organised terrorist group using
victims as pawns to advance their cause or it could be someone who is interested
in feeling important."
Adds Mr KPS Gill: "Most of the people
who become human bombs are highly motivated to perform the task. In other
terms, they are fed that their life will attain its goal, that of victory
over the enemy. Terrorists in Kashmir are time and again reminded of the
Islamic concept of jannat. Terrorists on suicide missions are drilled with
the idea that they are dying in the name of God, for the protection of
what He has taught and if they die in this mission, they will attain martyrdom
and jannat."
But not everyone buys the ticket
to paradise. Many militants fighting for a religious cause aren't religious
themselves. As Mr K P S Gill puts it: "We found that the human bomb used
to kill then-Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was not a religious person.
In fact, he was a drug addict and a smoker. He also used to trim his beard."
In terror groups, the leader's charisma
plays a huge role in keeping the flock together and motivated. Abu Nidal,
Oncalan and bin Laden are, apart from anything else, charismatic figures
drawing fierce loyalty of their followers. Says B Raman, "Most terrorist
leaders are not extroverts given to bombast. Privately, many of them are
almost soft-spoken and even gentle; careful in speech and action." Laden,
for example, speaks logically, in a low, calm tone.
Adds Mr Raman: "These leaders have
an intelligent, alert, razor-sharp and well-ordered mind. Lucidity in analysis
of the prevailing operational environment, meticulousness in planning their
operations and shrewdness in having them executed, characterise their actions.
Many are highly educated. Practically all of them show an ability to understand
and master the weapons of death. They have very quick reflexes and a remarkable
ability to keep one step ahead of intelligence agencies. They are men/women
of great charisma, which they carry lightly on their shoulders and have
the capacity to transfer to their followers. They manage to create in each
of their followers a feeling as if he or she had been specially hand-picked
by them and as if he or she was the most trusted by them. They show a readiness
to share with their followers credit for successful operations just as
they show a readiness to share with them the blame for failures. They are
not given to credit-grabbing or buck-passing."
"They are persons of great care
and caution. They never embark on an operation or send their followers
on any major operation unless they are convinced that objective conditions
for its success exist. It is said that behind every successful operation
of Carlos, there were at least half a dozen, if not more, aborted attempts,
which were called off because he felt such conditions did not exist. Whenever
Carlos felt that the risks to which he was exposing his followers were
more than normal, he himself participated in the operation in order to
share the risks, such as his participation in the kidnapping of the OPEC
Oil Ministers at Vienna in December, 1975," says Mr Raman.
Born in 1958, Laden is the 17th
of 52 sons of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest construction magnate. Saudi sources
remember him as an ordinary young man whose intense religiosity began to
emerge when he grew fascinated with the ancient, holy mosques of Mecca
and Medina that his family's company was involved in rebuilding. In the
1980s, bin Laden left his comfortable Saudi home to participate in the
Afghani jehad against the Soviet Union - a cause that, ironically, the
United States funded. Laden became a leader of the Afghan Arabs and a regional
hero. The war cemented a hatred of the US government and radicalised Laden's
politics. He is said to personally control about $300 million of his family's
$5 billion fortune. Despite his riches, Laden is careful to lead an austere
life, eating with his followers in the Islamic tradition.
Injustice - percieved and real -
is perhaps the greatest cause of terrorism. The US' hegemonic ambitions
in the Gulf and its support to Israel, is seen in the Muslim world as a
great injustice inflicted upon them. The US, thus, becomes a natural target
for terror strikes.
There is a Freudian angle to this
also, says Prof Pal. "As a superpower, the US is a patriarch that invokes
the father-image syndrome among weaker nations. According to Freud, male
children suffer from two complexes, vis-a-vis their fathers. First is the
mixed feeling of awe and anger; and second the fear that their manhood
will be usurped by the patriarch (castration complex). In terms of communities,
the Muslim world has a similar relation with the US. While many want to
enjoy the fruits of America's industrial revolution, they also feel that
Islam's core culture is being threatened by the sensuous openness of Western
society, which 'uses women as objects of allurement'. This fear and insecurity
leads to anger and desperation."
There are, of course, socio-political
reasons for the rise of terrorism in the Muslim world. Says sociologist
Ashis Nandy, "Terrorism always thrives in the abridgement of politics.
When political self-expression of people is suppressed, extremism rises.
This has happened in Palestine, Afghanistan and even Kashmir. Sociologically,
violence is a symptom of urban-industrial societies, where communities
are breaking down and there are fringe groups who take up the cause of
the community." Adds Prof Pal: "There seems to be immense burning within
communities that feel angered and deprived. Unless communities, that have
been traditionally at loggerheads, reach out with understanding, there's
no end to terrorism."
A Hollywood script on that, anyone?
(With inputs from Shah Imran Ahmed
& Aditi)
