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War, terror and a rising death toll: The world’s new normal

War, terror and a rising death toll: The world’s new normal
Author
First Published Jul 17, 2016, 8:51 AM IST

 

The world is spinning out of control and there is no ‘second coming’ in sight. In recent weeks 22 were killed in Bangladesh, 49 in United States, 44 in Istanbul, 292 in Iraq, then another 37 and 12 and 12 and then 84 and 161. Numbing statistics.

 

Since the Bush War on terror was declared, war has only generated more terror and with each passing day its hydra headed form is manifesting across the globe.

 

With each year the count is only increasing; last year there were attacks in 100 countries up from 59 two years back. And as ISIS loses territory in Iraq and Syria they are looking at far off shores to anchor themselves.

 

Even before the world recovered from the Nice massacre, a military helicopter was firing from the Turkish sky on Saturday morning as the shock coup killed 161, injuring 1440 people. Both may not be connected but it can well be argued that the contagion of violence from the war in Syria triggered both incidents.

 

President Erdogen who may have survived the coup (with new age technology FaceTime to his rescue even though he very recently wanted to ban social media), was himself at odds with the secular heritage of Turkey and his backing the Islamist opposition to President Assad in Syria has made him vulnerable to jihadists who call themselves the Islamic State.

 

People looking out of their homes saw tanks take up positions on the bridges over the Bosphorous Strait and jets were flying low targeting the parliament and presidential buildings in Ankara. The army walked into newsrooms of state broadcaster TRT and seized mobile phones and took over the signal. Turkey’s history of coup is quite impressive; 4 since 1960 with the last one in 1997 called ‘post-modern coup’. But the only difference between then and now is news breaks every mili-second and that is what brings the horror to every home.

 

In the last one year Turkey has suffered 10 terror strikes with car bombs, female suicide bombers, attacks in bus stops and airport, at a peace rally and political rallies. Along with France and Belgium, terror threat is very high in Turkey.

 

While new age technology and a democratic social media platform can usher revolutions and counter-coups, even the most sophisticated war of terror has , however, failed to make the world any more secure.

 

Thousands of airstrikes, drone attacks, deployment and redeployment of satellites, following money trail, freezing accounts have done little to the terror groups and their affiliates to launch dramatic strikes that grab global attention on a day and time of their own choosing.

 

Reportedly the strategy is to hit at short intervals and hit everywhere and literally to let ‘loose mere anarchy’ without a figurehead. Dhaka and Kashmir points to that direction. Everyday vehicles, the terror groups say, should be transformed into instruments of mass slaughter as we witnessed in Nice this week or pressure cooker bombs used during the Boston marathon. If not guns use machetes like in Bangladesh serial killings. If copycat attacks were to begin then where and how does one stop this cycle of violence?

 

Kishalay Bhattacharjee is a senior journalist and author. His most recent book is Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters (Harper Collins 2015). The views expressed here are his own.

 

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