BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

IMPEDIMENTS TO COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION IN SOUTH ASIA: A THEORETICAL EXPLANATION

Author: Zohra Akhter, Mohammad Towheedul Islam, Mohd Aminul Karim

DOI Link: DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2015v36n2a2

ABSTRACT

South Asia as a region has been facing the challenges of transnational terrorism and extremism – be it religious fundamentalism, separatist or left-wing – for more than three decades. The irony, however, is that escalation of terrorism in South Asia along with its political division has made it easier-said-than-done to have meaningful regional collaboration on the issue. The purpose of this paper is to find out the factors, which hinder effective counter-terrorism cooperation in South Asia. Based on the “Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT)”, this paper argues that the security structure in South Asia is uniquely characterised by historical mistrust among its members, specially its bipolar conflictual power structure. It further argues that the nature of conflict formation in South Asia has facilitated the rise and sustenance of transnational terrorism. Finally, it contends that extreme reliance on the zero-sum notion of security by South Asian states prevents the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to emerge as an effective counter-terrorism organisation on a regional basis.