Indian Defence Review

Suicide protests are not unknown in history. As recent examples, one could cite the self-immolation of many Tamils in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s to express their opposition to the introduction of Hindi as the official language , similar self-immolation of Buddhist monks in South Vietnam in the 1960s and the early 1970s for expressing their opposition to the war and the attempted or actual self-immolation of some young people in New Delhi in 1990 to oppose the introduction of increased reservation of jobs for the youth of the backward classes in the Government departments.

He consciously commits suicide in such a manner as to cause the deaths of others too either as an act of reprisal or because he feels that the impact of his action on the public mind would be more if there are other deaths.

A suicide protester believes so strongly in his cause that he motivates himself to resort to suicide. Self-motivation uninfluenced by any master-mind seeking to use the readiness of volunteers to commit suicide for achieving the objective of an organisation is the underlying factor. He seeks to draw attention to his cause by killing himself without physically harming others.

In the case of a suicide terrorist, on the contrary, self-motivation as well as externally-induced motivation by an organisation or its leader play an equally important role. He consciously commits suicide in such a manner as to cause the deaths of others too either as an act of reprisal or because he feels that the impact of his action on the public mind would be more if there are other deaths.

A suicide protester as well as an organisation which practises suicide terrorism use suicide as a psychological weapon to shock the conscience of the public and to create an awareness of perceived acts of injustice committed by a society or a State, or another community against them. But, a suicide protester does not use suicide as a weapon of intimidation or reprisal. For him, suicide is an act of passive resistance.

As against this, an organisation practising   suicide terrorism seeks to use suicide not only as a weapon of protest, but also as a weapon of intimidation to coerce the State and the society to concede its demands and as a weapon of reprisal to punish the members of the targeted State or Society for perceived wrongs done to his community or religion. It seeks to demoralise the functionaries of the State and create in them a feeling of helplessness and to project the State in the eyes of its citizens as incapable of protecting them.

When a suicide terrorist undertakes an operation, he knows he will not return alive, if the operation is carried out, successfully or unsuccessfully.

A desire to make others emulate his example by similarly committing suicide is not an underlying factor in the case of suicide protesters. Terrorist organisations practising suicide terrorism glorify and exploit individual acts of suicide terrorism for creating in others a desire to emulate. The publicity surrounding an act of suicide terrorism is one of the tools consciously used by them in their drive for the recruitment of more volunteers willing to commit suicide.

Suicide terrorism and suicidal terrorism are not synonymous. An act of suicide terrorism is one in which a terrorist kills others by killing himself. Acts of suicide terrorism are directed against hard (well-protected) as well as soft ( ill-protected) targets. When a suicide terrorist undertakes an operation, he knows he will not return alive, if the operation is carried out, successfully or unsuccessfully.

“¦an organisation practising suicide terrorism seeks to use suicide not only as a weapon of protest, but also as a weapon of intimidation to coerce the State”¦

As against this, in an act of suicidal terrorism, a terrorist undertakes a high risk operation, in which though he does not consciously kill himself in order to kill others, the chances of his surviving the operation and returning alive are very low. Acts of suicidal terrorism are generally directed only against hard targets.

As examples of suicide terrorism, one could cite the various acts committed in Israel, Chechnya, Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan by organisations fighting for an independent Palestine, Chechnya and Kurdish State and for the withdrawal of the coalition troops led by the US from Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Al Qaeda’s terrorist strikes in different parts of the world. Other examples are those of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including its assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian Prime Minister, in May,1991, at Chennai (Madras), South India.

They looked upon the successful functioning of Indian democracy as a corrupting influence on the minds of the people of Pakistan.

While many of these suicide terrorists killed mainly political leaders targeted by their organisations and combatants against them (members of the security forces), some also killed hundreds of innocent civilians. While deliberate targeting of civilians by suicide terrorists has been frequent in Israel and Chechnya and has been the rule than the exception in acts perpetrated by Al Qaeda, it has been more an exception than the rule in other parts of the world, including India. In India, as in other parts of the world, there have been innumerable acts of terrorism deliberately targetted against civilians, but these were not by suicide terrorists. Organisations perpetrating them often try to maintain the deniability of their involvement in the intentional killing of civilians and this is difficult if suicide terrorists are used.

The political leaders and combatants killed by suicide terrorists were highly protected and, yet, they managed to kill them by noticing and taking advantage of gaps in their physical security. The civilians killed by them enjoyed very little or no physical security. They killed them while they were travelling in a public transport or eating in a restaurant or taking a stroll in the streets or watching a play in a theatre or watching a music performance in open air or doing other daily chores of life.

There has been hardly any act of suicide terrorism in the Islamic countries of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia and in the Muslim majority areas of Southern Philippines”¦

These acts of suicide terrorism, whether directed against political leaders or security forces or civilians, have strategic as well as tactical objectives. Amongst the strategic objectives are the creation of an independent Palestine, Chechnya, Kurdish State and Tamil Eelam, the withdrawal of the coalition troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the withdrawal of the American troops from Saudi Arabia and the creation of Islamic Caliphates in different parts of the world. Amongst tactical objectives which motivated acts of suicide terrorism, one could cite the desire to punish Rajiv Gandhi in retaliation for alleged human rights violations committed by the Indian Peace-Keeping Force in Sri Lanka when he was the Prime Minister and to prevent him from seeking to become the Prime Minister again during the general elections of 1991 and to wreak vengeance against the Americans for their perceived anti-Islam policies.

As examples of acts of suicidal terrorism, one could cite some of the operations launched by Pakistani jihadi organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India since 1999. The terrorists, who participated in these operations, wore police or military uniform, penetrated highly-protected establishments of the security forces and killed or tried to kill members of the security forces and their families. In the resulting exchange of fire, many terrorists were themselves killed. Very few managed to escape after committing their acts of terrorism.

The attack coincided with the first official visit to India by Abdullah Abdullah, the then Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, who belonged to the Northern Alliance.

Their objectives were largely strategic, namely, the merger of J&K with Pakistan and the “liberation” of the Muslims of India from the perceived control of the Hindus. The attack on the Indian Parliament House in December 2001 by the LET and the JEM was an attack of suicidal terrorism with an objective, which was more tactical than strategic. They looked upon the successful functioning of Indian democracy as a corrupting influence on the minds of the people of Pakistan. They held the Western model of liberal democracy as practised in India as anti-Islam since it held that sovereignty vests in the people. According to them, Allah and not the people is the sovereign.

Another tactical objective was to punish the Indian State for its support to the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan in its pre-9/11 fight against the Taliban. The attack coincided with the first official visit to India by Abdullah Abdullah, the then Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, who belonged to the Northern Alliance.

Ever since suicide terrorism made its appearance in the Lebanon in the early 1980s,the overwhelming majority of suicide terrorists has come from Islam. The initial crop of suicide terrorists in the 1980s were Shias, but in subsequent years, Sunnis too have increasingly taken to suicide terrorism such as the followers of Osama bin Laden in Al Qaeda, the members of the Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in Israel, the Kurds of Turkey, the Chechens and the resistance fighters in Iraq.

The majority of the acts of jihadi suicide terrorism has been reported from West Asia and North Africa, Turkey and Chechnya. There has been hardly any act of suicide terrorism in the Islamic countries of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia and in the Muslim majority areas of Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand and the Arakan area of Myanmar. The suspicion that the Bali bombing of October,2002, involved an act of jihadi suicide terrorism has not been conclusively proved.

The Shias of Pakistan, despite the gruesome massacres to which they are subjected from time to time, have not tried to emulate their co-religionists of the Lebanon by taking to suicide terrorism in reprisal.

Jihadi suicide terrorism was initially brought into the Indian sub-continent by external groups. Examples: The explosion outside the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in November,1995, in which 15 persons were killed and Al Qaeda’s assassination of Ahmed Shah Masood, the leader of the Northern Alliance, in September,2001. Ever since bin Laden formed his International Islamic Front (IIF) in 1998, three of the Pakistani Sunni/Wahabi organisations, which have joined it, have been practising suicide and suicidal terrorism in increasing numbers. These are the LET, the JEM and the Sunni extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ).

Amongst the post 9/11 instances of jihadi suicide terrorism in Pakistan , one could cite the car bomb explosion outside a Karachi hotel in which French submarine engineers were staying in 2002, the three failed attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf in Karachi in 2002 and in Rawalpindi in December, 2003,a failed attempt of a Sunni terrorist in 2004 to kill Shia worshippers by blowing himself up, the assassination of a large number of leaders of the more tolerant Barelvi sect belonging to the Sunni Tehreek by suspected terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi belonging to the extremist Deobandi sect in Karachi in April 2006 and the large number of suicide terrorist strikes (56 in 2007) by suspected Pashtun tribals since the Pakistani military commando raid into the Lal Masjid of Islamabad from July 10 to 13,2007. The Shias of Pakistan, despite the gruesome massacres to which they are subjected from time to time, have not tried to emulate their co-religionists of the Lebanon by taking to suicide terrorism in reprisal. Reprisals there have been, but with hand-held weapons.

A credible statistical analysis of instances of jihadi suicide terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India is rendered difficult by the fact that Indian intelligence and other security agencies often use the expressions fedayeen attacks and suicide and suicidal terrorism loosely and treat them as synonymous. While there has been a large number of acts of suicidal terrorism in J&K and other parts of India, acts of jihadi suicide terrorism have been much less. Jihadi suicide terrorism is still to make its appearance in South-East Asia.

Jihadi suicide terrorism is still to make its appearance in South-East Asia.

One possible reason for the slow spread of jihadi suicide terrorism in South and South-East Asia is the influence on Islam in these areas of Hinduism, which looked upon suicide except in the case of ‘sati’ (a widowed woman self-immolating herself on the funeral pyre of her husband), as a shameful act, as an admission of failure, even as a sinful act. Sati is a criminal offence, but, despite this, there are even now occasional reports of sati in some parts of North India. Before sati was made a criminal offence, the woman immolating herself was sought to be glorified and accorded a certain post-death divinity. The past instances of suicide protests by the Hindus and Buddhists were not instigated by any political or religious organisation and never sought to be glorified on religious grounds. They were impulsive acts of individuals.

The LTTE, which practises a deadly form of suicide terrorism, consists largely of Hindus. Most of its suicide terrorists were Hindus and some Christians. But it does not use religious arguments for motivating its suicide terrorists or for justifying their acts to public opinion. It uses military and political arguments. It projects suicide terrorism as a battlefield weapon and justifies acts of suicide terrorism as heroic acts of patriotism in furtherance of the Tamil cause. It does not project its suicide terrorists as religious martyrs sacrificing their lives for a religious cause as the jihadi organisations do.

“¦the ISI advised the Sikh terrorist organisations to emulate the LTTE and take to suicide terrorism to achieve their objectives.

A Sikh terrorist trained by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), who was arrested by the Indian authorities in the early 1990s, stated during the interrogation that during the training, the ISI advised the Sikh terrorist organisations to emulate the LTTE and take to suicide terrorism to achieve their objectives. It wanted the arrested person to join the Mumbai (Bombay) Flying Club, take a trainer aircraft up on a solo flight and crash it on the Mumbai off-shore oil platform. He stated that he agreed to do it while in Pakistan, but decided not to do so after his return to India because, according to him, the Sikh religion was against suicide and the Sikh terrorist organisations did not believe in suicide terrorism.

Jihadi organisations practising suicide terrorism use religious arguments for recruiting volunteers and for justifying their acts. They project suicide terrorism as an act of martyrdom willingly undertaken for the cause of Islam. For recruiting volunteers, they not only use religious arguments, but also promise many rewards in the after-world after they commit their acts.

Jihadi organisations practising suicide terrorism use religious arguments for recruiting volunteers and for justifying their acts.

Suicide and suicidal terrorists also differ in their modus operandi. Suicide terrorists use explosives and recently have used hijacked aircraft. Suicidal terrorists prefer hand-held weapons. Initially, suicide terrorists mainly used explosives, which were sought to be carried in a motor-vehicle or a boat driven by a suicide terrorist or on cycles and other means of transport. The suicide terrorist drove the motor  vehicle or other means of transport after packing them with explosives and set them off in the proximity of the target.

In the early 1990s, the LTTE had come to notice for examining the possibility of using micro-lite aircraft for carrying explosives to the proximity of a target and setting them off. According to an interview to an Egyptian paper given in 2003 by Carlos, now in jail in France, the idea of a possible act of suicide terrorism from the air against the two towers of the World Trade Centre in New York was under discussion by Syria-based terrorist groups from the early 1990s. If Carlos is to be believed, bin Laden borrowed his idea for the 9/11 terrorist strikes from them.

“¦the idea of a possible act of suicide terrorism from the air against the two towers of the World Trade Centre in New York was under discussion by Syria-based terrorist groups from the early 1990s.

Successful acts of suicide terrorism involving the transport of explosives in a vehicle led to strengthened physical security measures in the vicinity of higly protected establishments and individuals in order to deny access to suspect vehicles. Construction of physical barriers, stricter checking of vehicles for concealed explosives etc made such acts of suicide terrorism, particularly against hard targets, increasingly difficult.

This led to organisations practising suicide terrorism taking to the human bomb tactics, that is, have the explosives concealed and carried on the body of the suicide terrorist. The LTTE, the Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the Chechen terrorists extensively resort to this. The increasing use of women as human bombs is attributable to the belief that security personnel tend to be not as thorough in frisking women as they do men. Moreover, self-motivation is stronger and better sustained in women than in men.

The use of suicide terrorism against hard targets such as highly-protected political leaders and combatants as well as against soft targets of special significance such as New York’s World Trade Centre is understandable. It gives them a greater guarantee of success in their operations. Why do terrorists use it against soft targets of no special significance? More innocent civilians have been killed by timed or remotely-controlled explosive devices than by suicide terrorists. In India, more civilians were killed by the timed explosive devices used by terrorists in Mumbai (Bombay) in March 1993 than by suicide terrorists in their subsequent operations.

“¦in their eyes, there is a certain romanticisation of the act of terrorism in the public mind when a suicide terrorist kills himself or herself even if that be for killing others.

When they thus have the capability to cause deaths of civilians in large numbers without resorting to suicide terrorism, why do they use suicide terrorism? Firstly, in their eyes, there is a certain romanticisation of the act of terrorism in the public mind when a suicide terrorist kills himself or herself even if that be for killing others. The media and public opinion moulders unconsciously contribute to this romanticisation by keeping the focus on the suicide terrorist rather than on the victims. Secondly, it creates in others of the same community or religion a desire to emulate which helps in the recruitment of fresh volunteers. And, thirdly, the psychological impact of suicide terrorism not only on public mind, but also on the minds of political leaders and security forces personnel is much more than in the case of other acts of terrorism. A feeling of helplessness comes out in unwise statements such as “there is no protection or defence against suicide terrorism”.

Are suicide terrorists self-motivated or motivated to take to suicide terrorism by the organisations to which they belong? More often than not, suicide terrorists were self-motivated people, who decided on their own to participate in acts of suicide terrorism and volunteered themselves for their mission. Rarely does an organisation go around looking for volunteers willing to undertake suicide missions. Their decision to undertake suicide missions was not an impulsive action, but was a carefully-thought-out one. This explains the fact that suicide terrorists, once launched on a mission, go like a homing pigeon towards their targets and do not develop any fears or second-thoughts on the way to their objective and abandon their mission.

Intelligence and security agencies often try to cover up their failure to prevent acts of suicide terrorism by projecting suicide terrorists as unstoppable.

What are the factors that contribute to such self-motivation? Atrocities by the security forces of which their own relatives and close friends were victims; extreme instances of violation of human rights by the security forces; indiscriminate use of force by the security forces against innocent civilians; anger against their adversaries; and a strong, unshakeable belief in their cause. Are there proved instances of terrorist organisations using intimidation to force recruits to undertake suicide missions, for example, by threatening to kill their dear ones if they do no do so? No.

Intelligence and security agencies often try to cover up their failure to prevent acts of suicide terrorism by projecting suicide terrorists as unstoppable. This is not so. Suicide terrorism against hard targets can be prevented through effective physical security. The LTTE managed to kill Rajiv Gandhi by a suicide terrorist by noticing the habits of negligence of the Tamil Nadu Police and the intelligence agencies and taking advantage of them. Lethargic follow-up action on intercepted communications of the LTTE by the intelligence community also contributed to this tragedy.

It is difficult to prevent suicide terrorism against soft targets without timely precise intelligence. No state can provide physical security to each and every soft target. The only way of reducing the chances of success of suicide terrorism against soft targets is by educating the public and the personnel of such soft targets about the dos and don’ts to prevent suicide terrorism.

How to counter suicide terrorism? Through effective physical security and a psychological warfare (psywar) against organisations using suicide terrorism. Some dos and don’ts: