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Terrorism is not a new phenome- non. It has had been terrifying the state and people alike around the world in the past. Vested socio-eco- nomic, geo-political and geo-strate- gic conflicting interests have been the main reasons of this menace. It has been projected as struggle between the virtue and vice. It has been persisted battlefield between dragons of oppression and angels of humanity. It has been remained dead man walk between the spirits of violence, sabotage and peace & harmony around the world.
In the human history every coun- try has different counter-terrorism strategies. Counter-terrorism incor- porates the practices, tactics, tech- niques, and strategies that govern- ments, militaries, police depart- ments and corporations adopt to attack terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed. It includes both the detection of potential acts and the response to related events.
Recent history reveals that most counter-terrorism strategy is ineffec- tual conflicts drag on for years or decades without solutions and countries incur enormous costs in lives, money and lost opportunity. Paradigm shift is needed to tackle the terrorism because it is not the right solution to fight fire with fire. It is also not the war of physical might rather is the war of ideas.
The challenge is to develop counter-terrorism strategies that deal effectively with the threat with- out antagonizing citizens or neigh- boring states. Most counter-terrorist strategies focus on a military or police perspective and overlook the prospects for diplomacy, negotiation and reform, especially in the early stages of conflict, when possibilities may exist to deflate the pressures at least risk and least cost.
In Northern Ireland, Israel- Palestine, Sri Lanka, and others, states have developed and tested extensive counter-terrorist cam- paigns over long periods of time. However, the fact that these cam- paigns have been relatively unsuc- cessful in ending protracted con- flicts suggests that state counter- terrorist strategies may be flawed. Moreover, the states from Turkey, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia and Peru that have few democratic institutions or modest human rights traditions have pursued full-blown military campaigns in efforts to crush opposition movements. Regardless of the government structure many states adopt similar strategies, while those without legal and judicial constraints are prone to pursue increasingly repressive, even illegal tactics.
Saudi counterDterrorism...