History shows that terrorism has been used by various groups and parties from time to time to achieve their objectives. It has been used to suppress slaves, peasants and minorities so that the victims could be reduced to a state of submission and obedience.

Certain radical and revolutionary groups believe that through terrorism, rulers and high state officials can be eliminated and they could succeed in changing the structure of the state. Gangs of criminals and mafia tried to get rid of their opponents and rivals through terrorism in order to assert their power and independence.

In ancient Greece, the Dorians occupied Sparta after defeating the local inhabitants, known as Helots, and forcing them to cultivate land so that the agricultural produce would benefit the conquerors. It was customary for the Spartans to go to the residential areas of the Helots during the night and kill anyone who was found outside the house. This would create terror in the community, compelling them to remain obedient to the rulers.

At the end of the American civil war, slavery was abolished but Ku Klux Klan, a white underground terrorist group would not accept African-Americans as equals. They would dress up in white robes to emphasise the ‘purity’ of their race and also disguise their identities. They would subject the black population to lynching, firebombing and other terror attacks.. The black population thus lived in fear and dread, staying clear of the white areas.

Terrorism rarely achieves its end goals

Among Muslims, the first ‘terrorist’ organisation was that of the followers of Hassan-i-Sabbah (d.1124) in northern Persia. They were known as Fidayeens or devotees. They assassinated high government officials and ulema who opposed their ideology. It was customary that after killing their victim, they stayed on the spot to face the consequences.

In the 12th century, radical groups emerged in Russia whose targets were the czar and his ministers. Though they succeeded in killing the rulers and the ministers, the positions were replaced immediately and the structure of the state remained intact.

In India, after 1905 when Bengal was partitioned, various terrorist groups tried to destabilise the administrative working of the state by killing police officials and bombing public places. However, the British government repressed these movements and restored peace and order in the country.

In Iran, radical groups made several attempts to assassinate Mohammad Reza Pahalvi, but he survived and crushed these groups with the help of his secret police, called Savak. It shows that if state institutions are strong, they can crush terrorist movements and eliminate them.

On the other hand, sometimes the state uses terrorism to eradicate its opponents. But in the case of state terrorism, a legal procedure is adopted to deal with the anti-state elements. During the French revolution, the period between 1793 and 1794 is known as Reign of Terror. In order to protect the revolution from ‘anti’ forces, the revolutionary government established the committee of public safety and the revolutionary tribunal, which tried the king, the queen and a large number of people, condemning them to death penalty. Over 60,000 people were executed for being anti-revolutionaries. The same process was adopted by Russia and China after their respective revolutions.

History indicates that terrorist movements could not achieve their objects by creating panic in the society through killing, bombing and shooting people. Once they became involved in the act of terrorism, they lost the sympathy of the people and weaken their moral stance.

Learning lessons from history, the African National Council of South Africa finally decided to resort to non-violent methods to oppose the apartheid government. It succeeded in changing the structure of the state and black people were recognised as equals. The Irish Republican Army or the IRA continued with the policy of terrorism for a long period but in the end, they compromised with the political situation by adopting non-violence.

Similarly, the Basque Nationalist movement was a struggle for a separate homeland where terror was used as a mean to achieve success. Here also, violence was renounced in the end in order to compromise with the Spanish government.

Terrorist movements in the past have mostly failed to change the structure of the state or to transform a society according to their agenda. Terrorism instead plunges the country into bloodshed, anarchy and disorder without achieving its stated goals.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 11th, 2015

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