Asian Angle | In war on terror and Isis, South Asia is fighting itself

Regional leaders have made a show of standing together on terrorism, but individually they use anti-terror laws to suppress dissent and minorities

In unleashing violence on sections of their own populations these countries only make it easier for groups like Islamic State to take hold

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Islamic State fighters purportedly behind the Easter attack in Sri Lanka that killed 270 people in 2019. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00am, 10 Jan 2021Updated: 10:12am, 10 Jan 2021

Led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the heads of several South Asian countries pledged to cooperate through last year on regional security, with counterterrorism efforts at the top of their agenda.

The move was made as the effects of three attacks in the region over the past decade continued to resonate: the 2014 attack on an army school in Peshawar by the Pakistani Taliban that killed 135 schoolchildren, the 2016 storming of an upscale bakery in Dhaka by a local militant group, and Sri Lanka’s 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, also by local militants, that claimed 270 victims.

As expected, Islamic State (Isis), the militant Islamist organisation driven from its bastions in Iraq and Syria, rushed in to claim credit for the attacks, and countries in the region were spurred into drafting national counterterrorism policies and endorsing the need for greater regional cooperation.

In the past year, Nepal reiterated a proposal for a common definition of terrorism in the UN to enable greater cooperation, while India, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka signed bilateral security agreements.

But even as they renewed their bids for regional cooperation, the leaders of these countries were individually unveiling policies that are set to reverse the gains of collective efforts.

Take, for instance, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA). Set up after the 2008 assault on Mumbai by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba that killed 165 people, it has been in the news more for using anti-terrorism laws to arrest students, human rights activists and dissenters.

A case in point was the incarceration of an octogenarian Jesuit priest for his work among indigenous tribes and the poor. Such use of anti-terrorism laws to suppress political dissent and minority communities is endemic to the region, as is the vicious repression of independent media.

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Asian Angle | In war on terror and Isis, South Asia is fighting itself

Regional leaders have made a show of standing together on terrorism, but individually they use anti-terror laws to suppress dissent and minorities In unleashing violence on sections of their own populations these countries only make it easier for groups like Islamic State to take hold

Regional leaders have made a show of standing together on terrorism, but individually they use anti-terror laws to suppress dissent and minorities

In unleashing violence on sections of their own populations these countries only make it easier for groups like Islamic State to take hold