Daily Times

Sir: I am writing with reference to the article ‘Boston bombing’ by Professor Farakh A Khan (Daily Times, April 29, 2013). The two bombing suspects, who had links with al Qaeda Islamist terrorists and allegedly tried to kill runners in the Boston marathon, have again raised the question on how such killings by Islamist extremists can be stopped. The Islamist terrorists do not pose any military threat as their victims are always ordinary people and they lack the capability to attack military targets. However, their fanatical ideology of an atavistic Islam where mass killings are justified in the name of religion makes them particularly dangerous to ordinary people. To counter such fanatical Isalmists, the world can learn from Lord William Bentinck. When Lord William Bentinck arrived as the governor general of India in 1828, the country was in the grip of terror perpetrated by a group of religious cultists and robbers known as Thugs (the word ‘thug’ is derived from them). Although Thugs belonged to a brotherhood of robbers, they were also fanatical followers of a Hindu sect that, like al Qaeda, glorified the killing of ordinary people in the name of religion. Faced with the terrorist threat, Lord Bentinck created an intelligence organisation called the Central Intelligence Department (CID) and authorised Colonel Nicholson to eliminate the Thugs. Colonel Nicholson, with the help of local officials, infiltrated the Thugs and, in a series of police and military operations, he wiped them out. The 19th century British justice was swift and the scourge of Thugs was completely wiped out.

Terrorists linked with al Qaeda and their acolytes are the Thugs of our time and they must be met with resolute security measures. Terrorist networks must be infiltrated and the prospective perpetrators must be rounded up before they can strike. If the US’ FBI officials were as efficient as Colonel Nicholson, they could have apprehended the main bombing suspect, Tamarlan Tsarnaev who showed clear signs of extremism before visiting Dagestan, a terrorist hotbed in Russia. Even Russian officials warned the FBI about the fanatical tendencies of Tamarlan. If the FBI followed up by tracking Tamarlan after his return from Dagestan, he could have been stopped before carrying out his terrorist attack in Boston. Colonel Nicholson would have made sure that the CID kept a constant watch on him. Lord William Bentinck remains an iconic figure. He made English the medium of higher education, which had important implications for the modernisation of India. He abolished the century-old Hindu custom of burning widows. He laid the foundation of the Indian Railway, which is now among the world’s largest. But his greatest achievement was the suppression of Thugs, making India safe to live in. Facing the al Qaeda threat, the US can learn from Lord Bentinck. Constant surveillance to track down any plotters can go a long way to stop terrorists from carrying out their acts of terrorism. As Thomas Jefferson once remarked, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilence”.

MAHMOOD ELAHI

Ottawa,

Canada