Dark clouds of terrorism over sports

NOWADAYS even games and sports are not above politics. There was every possibility of violent disruption from pro-Tibet protesters. Now the Al Qaeda threat to disrupt Beijing Olympics added insult to injury. China has already been warned by the Interpol of the deadly terrorist attack either by Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group in the Olympics.

During the Beijing Olympics, hundreds and thousands of foreign visitors and journalists will be attending the events. The terrorist organisations always lie in wait for utilising such a global event. Any attack will bring them to the headlines overnight, especially when billions of audience will be watching on television all the events. Such attacks will have immediate global impact. This is also the aim of the Tibetan protesters.

China officially agreed to meet an envoy of the Dalai Lama for saving the image from getting tarnished during the Olympic games. But it is too late. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has for a long time been complaining about the cultural and religious repression in the Himalayan region. There is the age old demand for unambiguously recognising Tibet as a part of China.

It is really time to think that the normalisation of India-China relation is very much linked to this negotiation between the Dalai Lama and Chinese government. It is somehow heartening to hear that the Dalai Lama welcomed the offer of China to meet his envoy for talks after weeks of protests over Tibet. China’s step is praised by the world powers. But no one knows the effectiveness of this would -be negotiation. It may be a short term step towards the development of good relations with the Tibetans keeping eye to the Beijing Olympics.

But the threat posed by the Al Qaeda terrorists is not so easy to tackle. Chinese forces have for years been tackling a separatist movement among Xinjiang’s Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim people culturally and ethnically distinct from China’s Han majority. Chinese rule has been successful in suppressing the violence and no major bombing or shooting incidents have been reported in almost a decade.

The group had been trained by a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Both United Nations and United States have labelled it a terrorist organisation. East Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang. Probably secret assistance to such organisations is given by Al Qaeda. Now the Beijing Olympic games platform is being used by them.

China says its main terror threat comes from ETIM. The group is believed to be small with only few dozen members. But terrorism experts say it has become influential among terrorist groups using the internet to raise funds and find more people. An ETIM training camp was raided last year by the Chinese forces killing 18 militants allegedly linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. These militants are looking for the opportunity to disrupt the Olympics.

The moot question is that the long-stretched arms of terrorism is gradually reaching everywhere. The whole world can do nothing. The way that Bush and his cohorts show is not the right way. We should be in search of a second alternative to counter terrorism globally and more effectively.