ABSTRACT
Al Qaeda's 9/11 attacks that targeted strategic and iconic assets in the United States rank high among the incidents that have changed the course of history in more than one way. More than 10 years after 9/11, terrorism continues to be at the forefront of the security discourse involving the public, the state and the international community at large. There is a concern that an over emphasis on fighting terrorism has pushed human rights and human security projects off the agenda and substituted militarization with development goals. In the years preceding 9/11, one of the key arguments of the proponents of the human security discourse was that the state is not a good or sufficient provider of human security. India is an interesting case study for analyzing the roots of violence involving terrorism and crime, their impact on public policy and national security and the tradeoffs involving the security of the state vis-a-vis the security of the individual.
