A new course on counter-terrorism in Jawaharlal Nehru University features assertions such as “jihadi terrorism” is the only form of “fundamentalist-religious terrorism” and Communist regimes in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China were the “predominant state-sponsors of terrorism” that influenced “radical Islamic states”.
The optional course, titled ‘Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’, is for engineering students pursuing a dual degree programme at the JNU.
The course, already cleared by the university’s Academic Council, will be offered to students pursuing an MS with specialisation in the International Relations after a BTech in Engineering and online classes for the monsoon semester will start on September 20.
“Fundamentalist – religious inspired terrorism has played a very critical and dominant role in the spawning of terrorist violence in the beginning of the 21st century. The perverse interpretation of the Koran has resulted in the rapid proliferation of a jihadi cultist violence that glorifies death by terror in suicidal and homicidal variants,” states a course module titled ‘Fundamentalist-religious Terrorism and Impact’.
“The exploitation of the cyberspace by the radical Islamic religious clerics has resulted in the electronic propagation of jihadi terrorism world over. Online electronic dissemination of Jihadi terrorism has resulted in the spurt of violence in non-Islamic societies that are secular and are now increasingly vulnerable to the violence that (is) on the increase,” it states.
Another module, titled ‘State-sponsored Terrorism: It’s Influence and Impact’, which refers only to the Soviet Union and China, states: “tate sponsored terrorism has been largely during the ideological war between the West and the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union and China have been predominant state-sponsors of terrorism and they have been heavily involved in terms of their intelligence agencies training, aiding and providing logistical support to Communist ultras and terrorists.”
The Indian Express quoted Ruchir Gupta, Dean of the School of Engineering, saying that Arvind Kumar, Chairperson of the Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies, wanted to introduce the course.
Kumar confirmed to The Indian Express that he had designed the course. Asked about the reference to only one religion in the module on “fundamentalist-religious terrorism”, he said it was “because Islamic terrorism is a world-accepted thing. After the Taliban, it has gained momentum now.”
