'Needless controversy' over counter-terrorism course at JNU, need it now: V-C

ghaziabad: Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice-Chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar on Wednesday said that there was a "needless controversy" about a new counter-terrorism course, without going into its academic merits.

His remarks came amid criticism from a section of teachers and students over the content of the course being taught to engineering students.

The way things have unfolded in India's neighbourhood are proving highly detrimental to the country's national security, he said, while asserting that it is imperative that an academic institution like JNU takes the lead and builds a good set of counter-terrorism specialists.

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Professor Arvind Kumar who designed the course, had said on Tuesday it does not target any community and is a purely academic exercise.

A section of JNU teachers and students has objected to the introduction of the course, alleging it states that 'jihadi terrorism' is the only form of 'fundamentalist-religious terrorism'.

The course, titled 'Counter Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers', also asserts that Communist regimes in the Soviet Union and China were the state-sponsors of terrorism that influenced radical Islamic states, according to them.