The terrorist attack in Paris mark the beginning of a new trend in global terrorism as they underlined the Islamic State’s intentions to operate within Europe, where radicalization of Muslim Youth has created a fertile ground for terrorist organizations to find new recruits. Europe’s failure to integrate migrant communities lies at the heart of this growing challenge of radicalization among migrant youth. Europe must understand that the challenge it has been facing is internal and home-grown. These were the views expressed by Professor Andrea Margelleti, President of Center for International Studies (CIS), Rome, Italy during an in-house meeting at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) on November 18, 2015. Professor Margelleti was heading a three-member delegation from CIS.
Professor Margelleti also emphasized the need to understand the difference between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), arguing that it would be wrong to label IS as a terrorist organization like a-Qaeda because unlike al-Qaeda it had occupied a territory and had its own economy. IS, he maintained, qualified to be called a Non-State Actor. There was a need to understand why so many men and women from Middle East as well as from Europe were joining IS. He maintained that IS was a purely Iraqi phenomenon, where the failure of the Maliki government in creating an Iraqi identity and marginalization of the Sunni minority created the ripe environment for the emergence of IS.
Professor Margelleti’s talk was followed by a lively discussion during which ISSI researchers made several insightful comments. The researchers emphasized that stereotyping Muslims as terrorists in Europe should come to an end, and Muslims should not be demonized just because of their faith. They called for greater efforts by the European governments to counter Islamophobia in the continent. The meeting was concluded by the Director General, ISSI, Ambassador Masood Khan who expressed his heartfelt condolences to the French people over the losses in the Paris attacks. He also emphasized the need to bring the conflict in the Middle East to an end as it had been providing fuel to the vicious action-reaction cycle whereby extremists would use the situation in the Middle East to justify their violence.
