France caught short on anti-terror front

The unconventional terrorist attack in France’s famous resort town of Nice on Bastille Day (July 14) — in which the criminal drove a truck into celebrating crowds along the waterfront, zigzagging his way for a mile to claim as many victims as possible — is a shocker. The final toll could be very high. The terrorist, who was eventually shot dead by the police, was of Tunisian background.

This is France’s third major terrorist attack in 19 months. Why France Probably because the Muslim immigrant populations in this country are from its former colonies in West Asia and North Africa, the disaffected territories and war zones of the present day from which have emerged terrorist units and brands seeking to beguile young Europeans — especially the Muslim amongst them — with propaganda of victimhood and complaints of religio-cultural suppression.

That makes France pretty unique. Besides, of course, its way of life — liberty, equality, a tough variety of secularism, and extreme openness and liberalism, precisely the socio-political pattern that attracts the democracy-minded — is a red rag to the adherents of political Islam.

As we know in India, guarding against terrorists who are ready to die is not easy. Even so, the French authorities appear to have been caught short. In a year and a half they have been unable to develop and maintain systems to deter and detect at the law enforcement level, and design long-term social programmes to win their aggrieved Muslim citizens back from the margins with a view to integrating them better.

Speaking in the wake of the Nice tragedy, President Francois Hollande seems right about just one thing — that there (fighting terrorism) is a long road ahead. He and other politicians in Europe and America have churned out the rhetoric appropriate to the occasion, but not much else.

We should be clear that the politics of the US-led Western alliance concerning West Asia has been all wrong since the attack on Iraq. The same is the case with Pakistan, another terrorism hot-bed. In Syria, quite amazingly, they have been hell-bent on ousting Bashar al-Assad, not on fighting Al Qaeda affiliates and Islamic State, though of late there are signs of subtle shifts. In fact, it is Russia, not the West, that has taken on the terror outfits in their home den.

The West, the US in particular, has also been hypocritical. It has been less than enthusiastic about pushing through in the UN a convention to combat international terrorism in the face of persistent demands from a country like India. They can’t agree on a definition of terrorism. What can be more absurd

Events like the Nice attack succour the extreme Right, and politicians like Donald Trump can be beneficiaries. That’s even better for extremism and terrorism.