Major Terrorist Organisations around the World

Context:

• The massacre of at least 160 people in a border village in Burkina Faso recently.

Relevance:

• GS II- Linkages Between Development & Spread of Extremism

• Terrorism is the unlawful exercise of random and ruthless violence against property or individuals, usually innocent civilians, in order to intimidate governments or societies for political or ideological purposes.
• Terrorism is hardly a postmodern phenomenon. Several of the terror attacks in the 21st century reflect a paradigmatic change in the tactics of asymmetric warfare and the practice of violence.
• Attacks carried out in different corners of the world by al-Qaeda and its affiliates, the Islamic State, al-Shabaab, and similar terror outfits, are very different from those witnessed in the previous century.
• The tactics employed may vary, but the objective is common, viz. achieving mass casualties and widespread destruction.

Types of Terrorism

• Although there are several types of terrorism, we can classify terrorism into the following broad types:
  • Dissent Terrorism: Groups that rebel against the government of a country. For example, the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
  • Left-wing/right-wing terrorism: Terror groups that adhere to ideological leanings on the extreme end of the left-right political spectrum.
  • Religious terrorism: Terror groups based on religious ideologies. For example, ISIS.
  • Criminal terrorism: Terror groups engaged in terror acts for criminal profit.
  • Terrorism can also be classified on the basis of the mode of operation such as cyber-terrorism, bioterrorism, etc.

Impacts of Terrorism

• Terrorism has an impact on the societies that it affects or targets. While this impact can be one-off or limited, nowadays—with the terrorism of radical Islamic groups such as al-Qaeda and, more recently, ISIS—it tends to be heavy and long-lasting, even if it does change over time.
• Terrorism aims to create terror, a feeling of insecurity, and the idea that leaders can no longer protect those they lead. It leaves people stunned and has an emotional impact that lives on through its political implications.
• These political implications relate first and foremost to democracy and the separation of powers and can lead to the unravelling and abuse of existing structures, in ways that work to the government’s advantage. They can also benefit the causes of populists or nationalists, playing out in favour of authoritarianism.
• If the impact of terrorism is lasting, it becomes cultural: individuals change their habits and behaviours, learning for example not to be passive in the event of a terrorist attack, and going about their daily lives keeping in the back of their minds the possibility that a terrorist attack could take place. They also consume differently, which has a number of effects, including considerable economic ones. Terrorism changes people’s understanding of reality.
• Tourist flows are also affected by terrorist attacks, and new investments are generated, particularly in security. It obliges companies to take new measures, prompting them to monitor their staff in new ways and based on criteria—notably religious criteria—that can be highly contentious. It also impacts prison staff, prison life, and how prisons work.
• The terrorism of today is fast becoming a global phenomenon, rooted in logic that exists both within and outside of the societies it affects. In turn, this influences diplomacy, intelligence, and war.
• It affects certain societies that have been willing to recognize victims for half a century now, and that today make a priority of remembrance, even if this has an influence on history. A large number of victims of terrorism has led to the creation of victims’ associations, memorials and memorial projects, as well as museums.
• Terrorism affects some groups more than others, such as Jews and Muslims in societies in which they are the minority. It also dehumanizes or marginalizes minority groups (such as Muslims in Western countries), making the public believe that members of these groups are complicit in this terrorism and are therefore criminals.
• Lastly, terrorism gives rise to policies that are repressive, but also preventive.

Indian Subcontinent

Indian Mujahideen:

• The Indian Mujahideen is an Islamic terrorist group led by Abdul Subhan Qureshi who is now in Delhi Police custody.

Declared Terrorist Organisation by:

• India, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, UAE, The group was banned by the United Kingdom as it aimed at creating an Islamic state and implementing sharia law in India, by use of indiscriminate violence.

Hizb-Ul-Mujahideen:

• Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is an Islamist militant group operating in Indian-administered Kashmir. Its goal is to separate Kashmir from India and merge it with Pakistan. The group has claimed responsibility for multiple terror attacks in India.

Declared Terrorists Organisation by:

• It has been designated as a terrorist group by the European Union, India, Canada, and the United States. It remains a lawfully operating organisation in Pakistan

The Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF)

• It is a militant group and is part of the Khalistan movement to create a Sikh homeland called Khalistan via armed struggle.

Declared Terrorist Organisation by:

• The government of India and the European Union have declared and banned KZF as a terrorist organisation.

Lashkar-E-Taiba

• It is an Islamist militant jihadist organization in Pakistan. It was founded in 1987 by Hafiz Saeed, Abdullah Azzam and Zafar Iqbal with funding from Osama bin Laden
• Lashkar-e-Taiba has attacked military and civilian targets in India, most notably the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attack on Armed Forces.

Declared Terrorist Organisation:

• The UK, India, Australia.
• On 2 May 2008, it was placed on the Consolidated List established and maintained by the committee established by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 as an entity associated with al-Qaeda. The report also proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a front group of the LeT.

The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)

• It is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Indian state of Assam.
• It seeks to establish an independent state of Assam with armed struggle in the Assam conflict.
• The Government of India banned the organisation in 1990 citing it as a terrorist organisation, while the United States Department of State lists it under “other groups of concern.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

• Also known as the Tamil Tigers)[6] was a Tamil militant organization that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. Its aim was to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments
• The LTTE has been designated as a terrorist organisation by 32 countries, including the European Union, Canada, the United States, and India.

The Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)

• It is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land.
• The SIMI, an organisation of extremists has declared Jihad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence.
• The Indian government banned it in 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. The ban was lifted in August 2008 by a special tribunal but was reinstated by K.G. Balakrishnan, then Chief Justice, on 6 August 2008 on national security grounds.

The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT),

• It is also called Ansar Bangla is an Islamic extremist organization in Bangladesh, implicated in crimes including some brutal attacks and murders of atheist bloggers from 2013 to 2015 and a bank heist in April 2015

Hezbollah:

• Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and a militant group led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. 

Declared as Terrorists Organisation by:

• Arab League,  Gulf Cooperation Council, Argentina, Bahrain, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Israel, Malaysia, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Hamas:

• Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. It won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and became the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip following the 2007 Battle of Gaza.

Declared as Terrorist Organisation by:

• Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan and the United States have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. Australia, New Zealand, Paraguay and the United Kingdom have designated only its military wing as a terrorist organization.

ISIS:

• The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS officially known as the Islamic State (IS) and also known by its Arabic acronym Daesh is a militant group and formerly unrecognized proto-state that follows a Salafi jihadist doctrine.
• ISIL was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and gained global prominence in 2014 when it drove Iraqi security forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre.
• The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations

Al-Qaeda

• Al-Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national terrorist organization founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam and several other Arab volunteers during the Soviet-Afghan War.
• Al-Qaeda operates as a network of Islamic extremists and Salafist jihadists. The organization has been designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Russia, India, and various other countries

The Kurdistan Workers' Party 

• The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK  is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which has historically operated throughout Greater Kurdistan but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
• Since 1984, the PKK has been involved in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict (with cease-fires in 1999–2004 and 2013–2015), utilizing asymmetric warfare to seek various goals, including an independent Kurdish state, autonomy and increased human rights for Kurds within Turkey.

Declared as Terrorist Organisation by:

• European Union, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Turkistan Islamic Party

• The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) or the Turkistan Islamic Movement (TIM), formerly known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and other names, is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organization founded in Western China, considered broadly as a terrorist group.
• Its stated goals are to establish an independent state called East Turkestan replacing Xinjiang.
• United Nations, European Union Argentina Bahrain, Canada, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)

• It is a group of militants from Uzbekistan, other Central Asian states and Europe, and comprises approximately 500 members. Al-Qaida leaders encouraged the formation of IMU and Usama bin Laden supplied most of the funding to set up the organization.  IMU has close ties with Al-Qaida and the Taliban; senior IMU leaders have held positions in the Al-Qaida hierarchy.
• Before October 2001, IMU primarily targeted Uzbekistan interests and was responsible for several explosions in Tashkent in February 1999. In August 1999, IMU militants took hostage four Japanese geologists and eight Kyrgyz soldiers; and in August 2000, they took hostage four American mountain climbers. Since October 2001, IMU has focused its attacks on International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Afghanistan, alongside the Taliban and Al-Qaida.
• IMU has also been active in terrorist operations in Central Asia. IMU was responsible for explosions in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in December 2002, and Osh, Kyrgyzstan, in May 2003 that killed eight people. 

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) And Pakistan

• In April 2012, an estimated 150 IMU and TTP fighters launched a successful attack on Bannu Prison in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
• The BBC reported that members of the IMU took part in the 15 December 2012 Peshawar airport attack.
• In June 2014, the IMU claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistan's Jinnah International Airport.

Declared as Terrorist Organisation by:

• Australia, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom, European Union, the United States, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates.

Taliban

• The Taliban, who refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA),  is an Islamist movement and military organisation in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country. Since 2016, the Taliban's leader is Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Declared as Terrorist Organisation by:

• Canada, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates

Boko Haram

• It is a Salafi terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger and northern Cameroon.
• The group has been known for its brutality, and since the insurgency started in Nigeria in 2009, Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 2.3 million from their homes, and was at one time the world's deadliest terror group according to the Global Terrorism Index. Boko Haram has contributed to regional food crises and famines.
• United Nations, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Iraq, Malaysia, New Zealand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

The Armed Islamic Group

• It was active in Algeria between 1992 and 1998, was one of the most violent Islamic terrorist groups, and is thought to have takfired the Muslim population of Algeria. Its campaign to overthrow the Algerian government included civilian massacres, sometimes wiping out entire villages in its area of operation.
• It also targeted foreigners living in Algeria, killing more than 100 expatriates in the country. In recent years it has been eclipsed by a splinter group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now called Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.

Al-Shabaab

• It is a militant jihadist terrorist group based in East Africa, which emerged in 2006 as the youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union. A number of foreign jihadists have gone to Somalia to support al-Shabaab.
• In 2012, it pledged allegiance to the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda. It is a participant in the Somali Civil War and is reportedly being used by Egypt to destabilize Ethiopia, and attracting converts from predominantly Christian Kenya.