Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech at International Youth Conference on Terrorism

~I am pleased to be with you this morning. I have attended many conferences in which the issue of terrorism is discussed. But today I am particularly happy. For it is the first conference that I have attended which is for the youth and by the youth.

However, you have committed one anomaly. You have invited a not-so-young man to inaugurate your conference.

When I was looking at the theme of the conference, it pleased me to know that it is not only against something negative, but it is also for something positive. It is against terrorism. But it is also for a Global Dialogue for Peace.

It is this combination of determination to fight the wrong, and an equally firm resolve to pursue a constructive agenda, which the world needs today.

It is natural for young people to take such a two-pronged approach. Young hearts have an instinctive attraction to high ideals – of peace, voluntary service, and adventurous pursuit of progress. At the same time, their minds have an inborn abhorrence for the wrong and the unjust.

Youth is the spring of life. It is the age of discovery and dreams.

When they dream, they dream not only for a good future for themselves, but also a good future for their Nation and the entire humanity.

Their dreams take them to stars and galaxies, to the far corners of the Unknown. And some of them, like our own Kalpana Chawla, pursue their dream till they realise it and even die for it in the process.

If any section of society, in any country, is most impatient for change, it is the youth.

Patriotism comes naturally to young people. But they also easily respond to the call of internationalism.

In today’s shrinking and inter-dependent world, they reach out, with an open mind, to what other cultures have to offer, what different streams of thought have to offer, what new technologies have to offer.

And if they have to compete, they like doing so with a sporting spirit.

Just look at the spirit of internationalism that today pervades the cricketing world, with the start of the World Cup Tournament in South Africa.

No matter which team wins, cricket will win. Youthfulness will win. The spirit of oneness will win.

Of course, we in India would very much like our Boys in Blue to win!

The point I am making is that there is something common, something profoundly life-nourishing, that unites young men and women of all countries and all cultures, all creeds and all classes.

It is their hope and their strong urge to see a better world.

A world free of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exploitation of man by man.

A world free of discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, language and gender.

A world full of creative challenges and opportunities to conquer them.

These are not empty hopes. Modern science and technology, and the increasing vistas of socio-economic cooperation among nations, have brought these hopes within the reach of realisation.

However, there is one condition. These hopes of young people in Delhi and Durban, Colombo and Kabul, Jakarta and Havana, can be fulfilled only in conditions of peace, only in a civilised and cooperative world order.

In recent times, terrorism has emerged as one of the gravest threats to peace and a democratic polity.

The threat to peace-loving societies from the globalisation of terror is an ugly reality of today’s world. We in India grasped this reality many years ago. We have lost more than 60,000 of our innocent men, women and children, and security personnel to cross-border terrorism in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of our country during the past two decades.

But it took September 11 to dramatically bring the global reach of terrorism into the collective consciousness of the world. What has happened later in Bali, Moscow, Mombassa has further reinforced this truth.

Globalisation of terror has another dimension today. Increasingly, a common ideological inspiration – that of religious extremism -- is exporting it around the world. Thus, jehadi terrorism has today become the principal form of terrorism all over the world.

This is not because Islam justifies terrorism. No it does not justify. No religion preaches hatred or sanctions killing of innocent human beings.

Rather, terrorists have chosen to cover their campaign of killings with the cloak of jehad to gain two benefits. One, they seek some kind of popular legitimacy. Secondly, it helps them to recruit misguided youth and impart to them suicidal levels of motivation.

It is through such misuse of religion that jehadi terrorism is trying to violently impose its own rigid, intolerant social order uniformly around the world. The murderous campaign has not spared even Muslim populations, as was evident from what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

It has not hidden its goals and objectives from anyone. In pursuit of its objectives, it has given sufficient indication of its readiness to resort to any means and to attack any target. The December 13 attack on our Parliament illustrates this. Hence, international community has to be vigilant against the real possibility of chemical and biological weapons, and weapons of mass annihilation, falling into the hands of terrorist organisations.

However, we should never allow ourselves to be frightened by terrorism. We should have the conviction that the defeat of terrorism is certain. Human nature cannot bow before intolerance and violence. It also rejects any attempt to cast the entire humanity in a uniform mould. As in Nature, mankind likes, nurtures and protects diversity. Which is why, freedom of faith and thought is a fundamental human right; and tolerance of other’s religion, customs and political beliefs is a fundamental duty of everyone.

This is the basis of democracy. It is also the basis of secularism.

It is today a self-evident truth that democratic, secular and multicultural societies are the prime targets of terrorism. These have become the most vulnerable to its attacks. Terrorists exploit the civil liberties, religious tolerance and cultural diversity in our countries. They seek to destroy our democratic fabric by fomenting sectarian divisions and cultural tensions and ultimately deprive us of that very freedom which they have exploited.

It is also a fact, often ignored, that the sponsorship, bases and finances for terrorism come from totalitarian military regimes. They nurture and support extremist terrorist groups to further their own political agenda. In turn, these groups make themselves indispensable to these regimes by maintaining the focus on external campaigns and diverting attention from the inadequacies of their internal systems.

Democracies are more vulnerable to terrorism for yet another reason. Our values inhibit effective anti-terrorist action. Intrusive surveillance, curtailment of liberties, restrictions on movement, and other such tedious security procedures often become unpopular because they affect the quality of our life. Today we have to reconcile ourselves to some infringement of our rights and freedoms, so that we can counter the far more destructive threat from terrorism. We have to take decisive, tough and forceful action against terrorists, which is both punitive and deterrent.

Even while demanding restraint and fairness from our police and security agencies, we should recognize that extraordinary circumstances call for effective responses. The human rights of terrorists cannot override those of their victims – not only those hit by their actions, but also the generations which are denied normal life and economic progress by the prevalence of terrorism.

I call upon youth organisations to create proper awareness about these imperatives.

My young friends, distinctions are sometimes drawn between different acts of terrorism. In some cases, we are told, it is not really terrorism, but a freedom struggle. This is how our neighbour has been trying to justify its policy of cross-border terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir.

Sometimes, double standards are used to justify terrorism. It is asserted that Osama bin Laden’s associates are freedom fighters when they act in one country and terrorists when they act elsewhere. Jehadi groups have been given shelter and support using this dubious logic.

Similarly, some countries have a tendency to condone terrorism somewhere, while condemning it elsewhere. This is counter-productive, because such lenience will boomerang on all of us.

Youth organisations should carry out an awareness campaign to expose justification or condoning of terrorism anywhere and under whatever pretext.

While the fight against international terrorism is principally the responsibility of governments, youth organisations can play a vital supportive role. It is well known that extremist and fundamentalist groups draw their sustenance from, and often their fresh recruits from, an underground as well as overground ideological campaign among the general population, with a specific focus on students and youth. It is necessary to foil such efforts.

No organisation, irrespective of whether it claims to espouse the cause of the majority or the minority community, can be allowed to inflame passions, spread hatred and incite violence. Young people should work actively to isolate such organisations and individuals.

And just as extremist groups have created a global network of organisations bearing different names, it is necessary for student and youth organisations opposed to terrorism and extremism also to work in close international cooperation.

With these words, I inaugurate your conference and wish it all success.

Thank you~.