Terrorism has been "introduced" to the world after Afghanistan Russia war with some terror organization expanding and others declining. From Al-Qaeda to Taliban, Hizbollah, Hamas, Iraq 45 armed terror groups to modern day Houthies and ISIS. Almost every country in the around has experienced terror attack with most carried out in Asian countries like Pakistan India and Afghanistan and in the ME as well mostly targeted Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In your own opinion what measures should be taking to eradicate terrorism aside from military operation.
I myself think Education, Education and Education. Next comes the media and anti terror laws to battle hate speech and sectarianism to allow for acceptance of one another regardless of religion and race, colour or ethnicity.
When you mention education, you must also emphasize what nature of education you are talking about, since education is spread over a broad spectrum on its own. A certain level of education is fed in the minds of radical people to turn them towards extremism, violence and terrorism. This education is in the form of religious education sometimes and other times its in the form of history, geography, mathematics and science. This way education can be used for a certain agenda and masses are brainwashed in the wrong manner, however education itself is not at fault.
I will give you a few examples, how education when used selectively can set a wrong trend.
History and Geography play a major part in telling native people how their ancestors ruled this land and now its their time to lay a claim on some piece of land. It also brings to memory the glorious days of past when perhaps their ancestors ruled that land. It can also encompass the militant or rebellious nature of ancestors towards previous occupiers in the past. Mathematics is presented in the form of statistics, how the stats of an area/group/minority have turned against that group which then ignites them to take up arms or how the stats have turned against a race they sympathise with, bearing the same result. Science then becomes the building block for building labs and producing weapons destructive to humanity. A constant hammering of same concepts over and over again then produces radicals, racists, extremists, insurgents and terrorists.
Religion is a broad topic on its own. People who try to find religion online are easy prey for extremist organisations. There are many portals which portray different sides of any religion. Researching online is easy because it can be done at own convenience at any time, it's basically free and one cannot be judged by what sort of answers he/she is looking for. One can in fact just only search what they are interested in and ignore all other (which maybe related and cannot be put aside to get a complete picture), which is why its said that a little knowledge is dangerous.
Education which is taught in schools is pre-determined and set up by an educational governing body, which of course varies from country to country. It ensures that all the budding minds are brought up on similar standards. The performance of schools as well as educators is reviewed on a regular basis. This keeps many matters in check. The problem may start when an educational institution starts to set own standard of education with a selected syllabus, an example could be of a local school in a remote village, like a madrassah.
Media, by itself, although regularised by an authority is usually controlled by the Government of that country. TV and internet play an important role in life of every individual. Its upto that individual how he/she perceives things when viewed through media. Its difficult to control media. Satellite channels as well as VPN's for proxies can help a user view almost anything which the Government may have barred.
What steps can be taken by the Government?
1. SET UP A HELP LINE for understanding RELIGION:
People call up this help line and ask religious experts nominated by Government to help young or confused or zealous people with their questions. Information of individual should be taken but the call should be kept confidential and a follow up call should be encouraged.
2. EDUCATION:
Affordable private schools are a must. Secondly, bringing up the standards of public schools to compete with private schools is a major requirement. This eliminates the difference in level of thinking and understanding between young minds of the same age.
3. MEDIA:
Show the positive side of religion majorly followed in the country, like Islam in Pakistan. Patriotic shows should be put on air and encouraged to be watched by public. Patriotism is the essence. Portray Army, Police and other LEA's are friendly forces. Take steps to develop liking for infrastructure, roads, bridges and machinery of the country. Place incentives for taking care of such infrastructure.
Bring common people on National TV and give them awards (or cash) when it's proofed and documented that they did something/anything good for the country.
4. Reduce POVERTY:
Money is not everything, but isnt it? To feed a hungry family at home, the bread winner may resort to earning methods which maybe illegal and damaging to the country. This means more opportunities are required to be set up by Government, more projects, more development, more jobs, more money circulated in the society.
5. Illegal Weapon Curtailing:
The spread of illegal weapons is another poison in the society. Amnesty should be curtailed to detain the weapons when presented and pardon granted, not an issuance of license for a weapon which was once illegal.
In general, steps by Government should be taken to show the people that the Government is concerned about their well being and welfare and is willing to take all necessary steps to care for them.
Other small steps come under intelligence gathering like keeping eyes on banks for transfer of Funds which could be used in notorious activities, weeding out the spies from own departments, infiltrating ranks of different shifty groups etc.
