Still a long way to go

Terrorism does not spring up in a day. It is developed with meticulous planning and strategy. It is known and accepted worldwide that terror groups are spawned in situations where there is a political vacuum and irrespective of how the political vacuum comes about, the phenomena of terrorism is such that even the covert supporters of it are not safe from it. Attempts to destroy the Central Asian region for its abundance in resources and independent prosperity largely led to a situation which developed into what we now called terrorism. The handy works of Al Qaeda wreaked havock on the world and continues to misguide and indoctrinate numerous naive minds. The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in recent times have contributed to the decimation of the prosperous Central Asian countries. The hunt for the Islamic State leader had lasted years until Iraqi officials got a break last month in the significant development. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the ISIS chief is announced to have been eliminated by the US forces but that does not mean the end of the terror situation despite the fact that this is a considerable achievement. Neutralising the world's most wanted terrorist happened in an explosion that claimed three children he was using as human shields. In a remote hamlet of northwestern Syria, Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest strapped to his body as special forces troops disgorged from helicopters and cornered him where he was hiding. Baghdadi had previously eluded all his pursuers, and even dodged the best technology the world's intelligence agencies could deploy. Although aware that being on the run in this digital age is fraught with dangers of its own kinds, he was nabbed in the more old-fashioned ways of spycraft: another person carrying a secret. The ISIS head may have been eliminated but that does not indicate by any means that the terror organisation stands defunct—there is a threatening possibility of the resurgence of ISIS. The chief of ISIS, Baghdadi proceeded with terror motives by first capturing Raqqa in Syria and then leading a blitzkrieg through Iraq, rampaging through Mosul, Tikrit, to the gates of Baghdad. ISIS has specifically made itself known for its horrifying standard of brutality, re-establishing slavery, practicing what amounted to genocide against the Yazidis, carrying out mass executions, demolishing religious sites and antiquities, and beheadings that were filmed and shared for the purpose of deterrence and establishment of their brute power. Given how this terror outfit has managed to spread its tentacles, it may be understood that ISIS is certainly far from gone as it operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and several other places.