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English - II

Notes 4. According to a survey, the greatest number of people are affected by corruption in the Health,
Power and Education Departments.
5. Suggestions for reducing and obliterating corruption.
6. Corruption at high levels seeps into bureaucracy and to the people. It spreads from top to bottom
and forms a vicious cycle.
7. Socio-economic conditions of the people need to be improved.
8. Adopt zero tolerance towards corruption.

8. Terrorism
Terrorism has been defined differently by different experts. Terrorist strikes are sometimes
euphemistically referred to as ‘political crimes’. Killing of civilians for any purpose in a conflict is
terrorism. Terrorism has developed into a global issue of late. It has assumed the global centre-stage
on 11 September, 2001 when America was attacked for the first time in nearly the last two centuries.
In one of the most well planned and co-ordinated attacks ever, Islamic militants belonging to Osama
bin Laden’s terrorist outfit Al Qaeda, launched a kamikaze attack. Two passenger aircrafts were hijacked
and deliberately directed on to the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Minutes
later another one slammed into the Pentagon, the Headquarters of the American Defence Department
in Washington. Thousands of people, including emergency workers and fire fighters were killed and
the United Slates along with the entire world was shocked after this gruesome attack. This attack was
followed by massive bomb attacks in Bali in Indonesia, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Casablanca in Morocco,
Mombasa in Kenya and the list goes on. Terrorism has become truly global as the world has realized
that no country, however economically politically and militarily strong it may be, is immune to the
threat of terrorism.
A major irony of today’s global terrorism is the fact that the man America dreads most and desperately
wants to catch dead or alive, Osama bin Laden, is a monster created by the Americans themselves. It
all started when the cold war was at its peak and the Soviet Union marched into Afghanistan in 1979.
Since the Americans could not counter it militarily, they decided to employ proxy fighters. Osama
bin Laden, a Saudi billionaire was one of the leading Islamic fundamentalists who arrived in
Afghanistan along with a number of supporters to wage ‘jehad’ against the ‘Godless communists’.
These people were trained by the CIA, Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) and the Pakistani ISI and were
given money and weapons including Stinger missiles. The Americans tried to dissociate themselves
from these militants they created after the Soviet withdrawal from the region. However, a core group
of terrorists were created who had lots of weapons, financial clout and religious zeal.
Osama initially turned against his previous mentor, the US in 1990 when the American troops landed
in Saudi Arabia. From then onwards, he has been waging a virtual war against the US and its allies
like Israel. The 1993 attack on WTC, 1998 bombing of certain American embassies, the attack on the
ship USS Cole, etc. are allegedly linked to Osama Bin Laden.
Most of the present day terrorist activities can be traced to the West Asian region and have a certain
inexplicable connection to the cold war. The region was a major theatre of the cold war rivalry between
the US and the USSR. Most of the Arab states in the region, in a wave of pan-Arabism and socialism
under the leadership of Egyptian leader Nasser tried to align with the Soviet Union. The US especially
after the 1967 war supported Israel which was detested by its Arab neighbours. The establishment of
Israel in 1948 in Palestine was a major blow to the native Palestinians. Another part of the Palestinian
land was taken over by the Jordanians.
In 1967, Israel took over the entire Palestinian land of the West Bank and Gaza and as a result of all
these, millions of Palestinians became refugees and were also subjected to foreign occupation. Israel’s
intransigence on the Palestinian issue has led to the creation of a number of terrorist outfits like the
Hamas, Islamic Jehad, Al Aqsa Brigade, etc. The unconditional support of America for Israel and the
helplessness of Arab states after the collapse of their patron, the Soviet Union has led to these groups
starting a wave of violence in the region against Israeli and American targets. Of late, these attacks
have become extra regional as the terrorist groups have declared jehad against infidel targets

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