Terrorism The World's Burden

            Terrorism is prominent in today’s world and affects a lot of countries. Last July, in Mumbai, at 3 populous places there were simultaneous bombings in which 27 people were killed and over a hundred were injured. A terror group called “Mujahidin” claimed blame for this break in peace. I believe a world free from such terrorism is worth fighting for.

Terrorism affects many countries and puts the lives of many innocents at stake. The US 9/11 official final death toll was placed at 2975 (CBS). 164 guests and police officers lost their lives in the 26/11 hotel hijackings in India.  The survivors from such attacks have mental and physical problems since the injuries are  not only limited to being physical, but the trauma of being in such a situation also leaves deep psychological wounds in survivors and their relatives. These wounds sometimes take too long to heal. These people suffered just because they were in a place where one or more persons wanted to cause havoc in revenge for a cause that they believed in, without realizing that these people may not have been the reason behind their problems. This human loss of life, the mental suffering and their consequences, that are reasons enough for fighting against terrorism. But they are not the only costs of terrorism.

            Terrorism also affects government spending because terrorist attacks end up damaging property and life causing the government to spend more on fixing the damage caused and in compensations. The government also has to spend a lot on terrorists who have been captured and imprisoned. For example, India has spent 31 crores on the terrorist Amir Ajmal Kasab, who was responsible for the attack on one of India’s busiest railway stations. The Indian government spends more money per day to just to keep him alive in their prison compared to what the average Indian worker earns. Countries and their governments also start worrying about protecting their country from future attacks and hence beef up their security budgets. The US spent  $7.6 trillion on defence and homeland security and $635.9 billion on homeland security in around 10 years after 9/11. That’s 7 times India’s GDP! Hence terrorism depletes countries economy by using up the funds that could go into constructive developmental work in improving healthcare and education that will go further into improving individual citizen’s income and standard of living. So that is another reason why freedom from terrorism is worth fighting for.

Also in countries where poverty is prevalent, desperate people sometimes turn to terrorism in the absence of paying jobs to employ them. For example, in Pakistan there was a car bomb in March9, 2011 killing 40 and injuring much more. On the tenth of January, 2012, there was another bombing that killed at least 30 and injured 78 more. The government has had to impose higher taxation to tackle terrorism and its consequences. This then causes much more hardship to the poor who are pushed deeper into poverty.  This vicious cycle of terrorism leading to poverty and poverty leading to terrorism is endless. Hence I believe that if we don’t put a stop to terrorism then the poor will get poorer.

We earlier saw how government spending is altered by terrorism. Now let’s see the hand of terrorism in further cutting off the incomes in a few countries. Terrorism makes people feel insecure causing them to stop going to tourist destinations such as Bali or Bombay, previously affected by terrorist threats. The number of tourists coming to Bali reduced by 32% after the 2002 Bali bombings reducing money coming in from foreign and local tourists to Bali. This incident was a great injury to Bali and Indonesia since tourism is a large part of Indonesia’s economy. Hence terrorism not only feeds on the economy and deranges their development but adds salt to the wound by reducing their income. This argument justifies fighting against terrorism.

            Therefore, terrorism feeds on a country’s economy, depletes its income and worsens poverty. The war against terrorism, to me, means a positive action that involves improving education and providing a good source of livelihood to all citizens of the world, without any disparity. To me, such a peaceful war against terrorism is worth fighting for.

Let there be peace instead of violence.