ABSTRACT
Terrorism is essentially a minority phenomenon. A noisy and fanatic minority seeks to impose its will on the majority through the medium of terror.
The threat or use of force and violent means for attainment of political objectives, such actions being intended to influence the attitude or behavioural patterns of a large group of people other than the immediate victims, would be an acceptable working definition of terrorism. Modern terrorism poses complex, non-conventional, fast changing and multifaceted challenges. The terrorists wage a war without borders that admits no rules, conventions or moral code, thereby placing the targeted legitimate state in a severe moral and ethical dilemma. Terrorism can, therefore, only be successfully countered with pragmatism, flexibility and innovation.
