ABSTRACT
Too often too many terrorism experts describe the "threat" as a transnational network with strong Islamic roots. There is some truth to this assertion. But South Asia, which in many ways is the original hub of post-modern terrorism, provides some of the most powerful arguments against viewing terrorism in such simple overarching terms. South Asian terrorism predates September 11. Moreover, its origins and dimensions are too localized to be explained purely in terms of a global terrorist brotherhood spreading its tentacles from Chechnya to the Molukus. The profile of terror in South Asia shows why attempts to implicate Islam for terrorism can be exaggerated. Here, terrorism is as much about a clash within a civilization as between civilizations.
