South Asia and the Frontline of the ‘War on Terror’

In this chapter, Daya Thussu suggests that one of the worst affected regions for terrorism-related violence is South Asia. He places the terrorism narrative within the broader geo-political framework of the region – home to centrifugal and centripetal tendencies, emanating from religious, ethnic and geo-linguistic factors, rooted in a history shaped by colonialism and often accentuated by contemporary political-economy of development. Although what he calls the ‘Talibanization of terrorism’ in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan gave it global currency, the major terrorist-related violence in the region has more political rather than religious significance: Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka and Maoist insurgency in Nepal and parts of India are prime examples. Nevertheless, Thussu argues that terrorism coverage in the region has been profoundly influenced by the US-defined ‘war on terror’. Given the exponential growth in the media in the region – India alone has 80 dedicated news channels – the coverage of terrorism has been hostage to an infotainment-driven news media. This has resulted in terrorism being presented as a spectacle influenced by the imagery of Bollywood.