Extremism and violent behaviour by people and diverse groups have become a true global phenomenon. Almost everyday dawns with reports of some kind of terrorist acts, major or negligible, from practically every country in the world, perpetrated by individuals or groups in bid to take revenge or purportedly to project and promote their version of a particular ideology or to attain certain selfish ends. It had been a practice among the world leaders to ascribe extremism to a particular religion, but now a days they have learnt that terrorism is not an offshoot of any religion, but irrespective of religion, race, colour or country, it is a result of harbouring selfish ideologies, propaganda and more fundamentally, an inherent mental state which gain a bit of pleasure from seeing the sufferings of others. Whatever the reasons of extremism, the world is collectively paying a huge price for such atrocities committed by a small bunch of miscreants.
The State of Qatar, under the wise leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has been at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, whether it is regionally or internationally, for the past several years. Qatar was one of the first countries to foresee the phenomenon of terrorism spreading jeopardy across the world and the country has been determined to nip it in the bud. Qatar has been relentlessly hosting international conferences, signing Untied Nations’ conventions against terrorism and promptly condemning any act of terrorism in any far corners of the globe.
The latest among these efforts was the recently concluded International Conference on Studying the Causes of Extremism hosted by Doha. The conference, which has brought together international experts, intellectuals and policy-makers from 20 countries, confirmed Qatar’s leading role in confronting extremism.
The participants of the conference, organised by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) of Qatar University, agreed to launch the index for measuring extremism leading to violence to make data on this phenomenon available to researchers and policy-makers. The bid to create an index on extremism may be a first-of-its-kind effort. The index uses data collected from representative surveys to measure violent extremism in all countries at different times. It will definitely help in unravelling the pattern of terrorism, which can contribute to preempt any repeat of the act and plan better methodologies to stem the spread of terrorism.
The State of Qatar, even though free of the menace of any kind of violent behaviour, is concerned about the sufferings of the fellow beings resulting from terrorism in other parts of the world. The country is playing a leading role in tackling terrorism and bringing lasting peace to the world by taking valuable steps to wipe off the blot of extremism from the face of the globe. At the same time, Qatar is also helping the victims of extremism by providing education, means of livelihood and employment across the world.
