Relation Between International Terrorism with Ethno-national Identity Essay

Relation Between International Terrorism with Ethno-national Identity Problem - Essay Example Majority of these theories accepted that cultural conflicts are one of the major reasons for international terrorism. Ethnicity is a community of people whose members recognize each other, on the basis of a common ancestry. On the other hand, nationalism is a political ideology that identifies people on the basis of a common nationality. For example, India is a secular democratic country in which Hindus, Muslims, Christians and lot of other religions are prominent. It should be noted all these people of different religion have different ethnicity. However, when it comes to nationalism, these people may not show any differences in their attitude with respect to ethnicity. For example, Indians all together celebrated their victory over Sri Lanka in 2011 ICC world cup one day cricket match competition. However, when it comes to terrorism, different religions in India have different attitudes. It has been accused by India that Pakistan is engaged in terrorist activities in Indian soil fo r the last few decades. Majority of the Indian people do believe that India’s claims are genuine. However, a minority groups in Indian Muslim community do believe that India is making unnecessary allegations against Pakistan. It should be noted that Indian Muslims and Pakistani Muslims have a common ethnicity. In short, ethnicity and nationalism can affect international terrorism in one way or another. This paper analyses the relation between International Terrorism and Ethno-national Identity problem. Terrorism and Ethno-national identity Nationalism, in particular, remains the pre-eminent rhetoric for attempts to demarcate political communities, claim rights of self-determination and legitimate rule by reference to ‘the people’ of the country. Ethnic solidarities and identities are claimed most often when groups do not seek ‘national’ autonomy but rather a recognition internal to or crosscutting national or state boundaries (Fenton and May, n.d., p .4). Ethnicity and nationalism are entirely different topics as far as international terrorism is concerned. For example, Mohamed Atta, a terrorist and one of the major culprits of the September 11 attacks was an Egyptian. Egypt is a country in which people of different ethnicities are staying together. Moreover, Egypt is keeping healthy relationships with United States for the past few decades. Same way, Osama Bin Laden’s origin was in Saudi Arabia and Saudi is one of the closest allies of America in Middle East. Under such circumstances, it was surprising for America to see the involvement of an Egyptian in 9/11 terrorist attack. It is evident that Atta and Osama decided to attack America, not because of America’s atrocities towards Egypt or Saudi Arabia, but because of America’s aggressive behaviors towards Muslim community in general. It should be noted that instead of attacking Egypt or Saudi Arabia, America started its war on terror in Iraq, Pakistan and A fghanistan in order to take revenge for the 9/11 incident. In other words, America realized that the role of Egypt as a nation in 9/11 incident is negligible compared to that of Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan provided secure shelter to Osama and his allies until recent times which clearly point towards the ethnic and national dimensions of international ter