ABSTRACT
The rapid escalation of Covid-19 around the world has marked a long-lasting impact on socio-economic, political and health landscape. Being a no exception, extremism has also proliferated due to Covid-19 in the first two years of the pandemic. The South Asian countries have encountered the rapid intensification of extremism in enormous ways. This chapter briefly discusses three aspects of extremism in relation to the Covid pandemic such as a. how the extremists frame Covid-19, b. the potential implications of the pandemic on extremism and c. impact on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) measures. Even though it is early to designate the aggregated impact of Coronavirus on radicalisation, an endeavour to assess the apparent impact based on the available literature will expedite future research in designating the far-reaching consequences of Covid-19 in broader spectrum. Reviewing the available literature, this chapter argues that the obvious implication of Covid-19 will be the upsurge of the number of radical individuals due to online narratives. The extremist groups continue to attract new adherents through building a positive image by exploiting the socio-political vulnerabilities of the countries of the global South. Besides, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan continues to inspire Jihadists in South Asia and poses a security threat for every country in the region. Albeit the number of radical individuals will be increased, the number of terrorist attacks will be limited because of the expansion of surveillance by the security agencies.
