Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in South Asia : Challenges and Policy Options

Threats from the cross-border terrorism and separatism nexus between narcotic mafias and terrorist and insurgent groups, religious and political extremism, and aggressive nationalism pose new challenges to the viability of large multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multicultural and multi-religious states of the South Asia Region (SAR) and there is an urgent need to combat these challenges through democracy, secularism, tolerance, regional co-operation and rule of law. The largest drug producing areas of the world Golden Crescent and Golden Triangle lie within the geographic proximity of the SAR. These geographical links are exacerbated by the connection between narcotics and arms, with the sea routes of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal providing ideal conduits for supply of both arms and narcotics. This resulted in the lethal cocktail of narco-terrorism and such a nexus can encourage ‘maritime terrorism’, in the coastal and island states of the SAR.