Terrorism is born out of hatred. It is therefore not logical that it can be won by anything that signifies hate. We can’t buy the idea that someone would kill or be ready to die for any silly cause, unless a person is really insane. They must have some valid reason to do what they are doing, no matter how wrong we think they are.

When the British ruled India, there was a common idea that the people should fight back. So there were many freedom fighters, who were ready to kill, die and go to jail. It was thought as the only way to freedom. Some of these freedom fighters were even termed terrorists by the Britishers. But there was one man who thought different – Mr. M. K. Gandhi, popularly known as ‘Bapu‘ or the ‘Father of the Nation‘. He was against war and killing. He started the ‘non-violence movement’ – to fight without fighting.  The movement lead to withdrawal of British rule from India. Bapu said, “with an eye for an eye we will all become blind”. We must realize that, the more we fight back (with anger and hatred) the more we give rise to terrorism.

We have all grown up with a formula :

ISLAM = TERRORISM

We teach the same to our children and develop hatred in them. Islamic countries realize this, and they too teach hatred for other religions and countries and falsely think they are safe in their own countries. This attitude makes both sides defensive. Some in Islamic countries want to revolt and are easily absorbed by terrorist organizations to strengthen themselves. Other countries resort to methods, they think are right, to fight back terrorism.

The only solution for both the sides is to strive hard to change this formula to

ISLAM = LOVE

Islamic countries need to work hard to spread the message that their religion is more about peace and love. For this they (and every other religion) also need to make some changes in their religion wherever it is necessary. Eg. Some religion recommend harsh punishment for crimes, while some others recommend forgiveness. Fear of punishment doesn’t root out crimes from our mind. We feel free to commit crime wherever we can escape or feel above Law and Order.

Kill Terrorism not Terrorists. We should strive for Love against Terrorism instead of War against Terrorism. With war we are just adding fuel to fire. We should try to have active communication with Terrorists. The first thing we should do is stop calling them terrorists. The term induces anger and hatred in us for them. For them it signifies (false) victory, that they are successful in spreading terror. A better term would be the ‘Lost Ones’ or the ‘Estranged Ones’.

No war has ever been won with war. We must understand their needs and requirements. Usually there are no needs and no demands, just plain hatred.

Should captured terrorists be given harsh punishment?

They are already used to death and cruelty. Any sort of punishment would not work for them. They should first be isolated from the public and media and all kind of outer communication. They should be taught love and creativity as against their existing life of cruelty and destruction. They should be taught gardening, making toys for needy children, meditation, painting, dancing, so they realize the value of life. They also badly need psychiatric treatment and counseling.

Mind can Matter and we can wipe out “Terrorism” from all our languages and our life.