Concep Note

Violent extremism and terrorism is a multi-systemic phenomena passing through new and mutating life-cycles, perpetually producing deadlier strains.   Thus even after major setbacks to ISIS and other global terror networks since 2019, it may be wrong to surmise that threats emanating from terrorism to global security have substantially receded. There is no denying that the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic downturn have thrown terrorism off its perch of being the foremost international security challenge. It is also true that the Global Terrorism Index (2020) has recorded a 59 percent fall in the number of deaths caused by terrorism from 2014 till the end of 2019. However, rapid geopolitical shifts in the past couple of years have raised significant new red flags over the resurgence of radical forces and terrorism that have not yet been fully adumbrated nor quantified.

For one, the annexation of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan in a lightning advance even before the US deadline for a full withdrawal from the country by 11 September 2021 has raised new questions about the effectiveness of the almost two decades long global campaign against violent extremism and terrorism. It has also raised a whole new set of concerns regarding international peace and security, just when the world is struggling to come out of a major pandemic and serious economic crisis.

In order to gain a clear insight and new perspectives over the still unfolding unexplored scenarios for India and its extended neighbourhood, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses has organized a conference titled ‘Resilience to Violent Extremism and Terrorism’ on 27 August 2021, in which various challenges and solutions to the problems related to cross-border terrorism, terror financing, linkages of criminal networks to terror groups as well as counter radicalization approaches shall be deliberated upon by some of the most notable security experts.

Programme

Director General of MP-IDSA Welcome Address – (10:00 AM-10:05 AM)
SESSION I (10:05 AM – 11:30 AM)

Cross Border Terrorism: Emerging Threats and Policy Options

Chair – Lt. Gen. Arun Kumar Sahni, PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM (10:05-10:15 AM)

1. India’s Policy Options for Emerging Threats from the Af-Pak Theatre
   -Dr Ashok Behuria, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the South Asia Centre, MP-IDSA (10:15 AM-10:30 AM)
2. Options for Combating Terror Finance
   -Colonel (Retd.) Vivek Chadha, Research Fellow, MP-IDSA (10:30 AM-10:45 AM)
3. Organized Crime and Terrorism:  Threat to India’s Security
   -Mr Rupin Sharma, IPS, DG(Border/Affairs) (10:45 AM-11 AM)

Q and A session: 20 minutes
SESSION II (11:20 AM-12:45 PM)

Reconstructing Religious Thought against Radicalism

Chair: Ambassador Ashok Sajjanhar (11:20-11:30 AM)

1. Need for Moderation in the Religious Narratives of Islam
   -Mr Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation(11:30-11:45 AM)
2. Countering the Islamist Fallacies of Terror Groups
   -Dr Adil Rasheed, Research Fellow & Coordinator of Counter Terrorism centre, MP-IDSA(11:45-12:00)
3. The Opening up of Saudi Arabia’s Social and Religious Outlook
   -Mr Pradeep Singh Gautam, Indian Revenue Service (IT) officer and Research Fellow (MP-IDSA), (12:00-12:15 PM)

Q and A session: 20 minutes (12:15-12:35 PM)
Closing Remarks (12:35 to 12:45 PM) –Sri Jayant Misra, Former Member and Chairman, Settlement Commission for Indirect Taxes, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance from 2017-19.