Concept of terrorism
This chapter is mainly an analysis of the concept of terrorism and its usage in both domestic and foreign policy. Terrorism has been classified into two groups; that is internal and external. Internal terrorism has been described as the usage of force by a state against its citizenry while external terrorism is the type of terrorism practiced by individuals of one country against those of another state to pass a message across.
An empirical listing of the number of deaths caused by acts of terrorism has been presented with the revelation that in the twelve years between 1966 and 1978 approximately 10, 000 people lost their lives in incidents associated with terrorism.
State terrorism has also been given a critical mention particularly listing the three major forms of this kind of terrorism. These three types are intimidation, coerced conversion, and genocide. In intimidation, the state aims at discouraging opposition through threatening tough measures against rebels. The government, in this instance, takes control of the media houses and uses them to send messages across. In coerced conversion, the government creates a complete change of the national lifestyle while, in genocide, the state governments orchestrate the murder of all individuals who subscribe to a particular ideology.
Various terrorist activities in Africa and Latin America have been cited to further elaborate on the topic of discussion. The usage of terrorism, as an element of foreign policy, has also been underscored by listing its two classifications; i.e. state-sponsored terrorism, which implies the complete involvement of the state in the terrorism activities, and state-supported terrorism,= in which there is an independent entity carrying out the terrorist activities but is being aided by the state machinery.
The Peshawar school bus roadside bombing, December 2010
On December 13, 2010, a school bus in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan was bombed, resulting in the death of a 13-year-old teenage boy (Staff report n.pag.). The incident also resulted in severe injuries on five other occupants of the bus, two of them being students. The boy, who perished in the incident, was said to be a mechanic and he died due to the impact of the explosion. Confusion arose about the number of deaths as television channels went ahead to report that the driver of the bus had also died in the incident.
It was however discovered later that the said driver was taken to hospital and was discharged after a routine checkup cleared him of any serious injuries. In setting up the roadside bomb, the individuals involved used approximately six kilograms of explosives (Staff report n.pag.). The bus had been ferrying students from a private school in the region when the bombing happened. The bombing created a tense moment as panicking parents visited the hospitals where the injured students were taken for fear of their children have been victims. Following the incident, two suspects were arrested and then sent to an undisclosed holding facility.
Police conducted investigations on the incident, and they confirmed that the attackers may have been targeting a different vehicle when they accidentally set off the bomb as the school bus stopped in the region (Staff report n.pag.). The attack was condemned by various government officials, including Senior Minister Bashir Bilour. Following the incident, security was increased in the region as there were fears of another attack (Staff report n.pag.).
Works Cited
Staff report. One killed, five injured as bomb destroys school bus in Peshawar. Daily times. 2010. Web.