Tunisian hostage crisis, leaving 21 dead in
the capital Tunis, was contained within four hours but its aftershocks significantly
add to the worries post the emergence of the Islamic State as the most lethal
terror outfit and its potential as the most rogue terror export hub in the days
to come, if left unchecked.
Because, Tunisia is the only country where
Arab Spring remained Arab Spring, surviving an orderly transition from a
24-year old autocracy of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to a parliamentary democracy.
The Arab Spring erupted from Tunisia in
December 2010 with self-immolation of a street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, after
sustained harassment from the authorities.
The movement was to soon engulf the whole
Arab World, the major dots of tyrannies and autocracies on the world map.
And it did happen.
Sustained protest movements brought down
dictators in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen.
But apart from Tunisia, the other three
countries got entangled in bloody faction wars and terror attacks. They are
staring at dark future. Syria's civil uprising is still one of the bloodiest
war being waged. Bahrain's was brutally crushed. Other countries including
Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have effectively defanged the protests.
Except Tunisia, it is indeed an Arab Winter
in all other Arab Spring countries.
And a terror strike in that Tunisia - on a
building of international importance - adjacent to its national parliament -
killing 21 including 17 foreign nationals (all Europeans) - within six months
of elections completing the process of transition to a parliamentary republic -
is indicative of how sinister the terror footprints are going to be.
The network extends - from Asia to Africa
to Europe - from crisis hotbeds and terror infested countries to the advanced
ones like the European nations.
With the Tunisia strike, the worrying
aspect gets even more disturbing. It's like identifying targets and waging the
war on all continents.
Terrorism in the name of Islam, in the era
of the Islamic State, is still not able to touch the American soil post 9/11.
That makes Europe the natural choice. After all, any attack on a European
country, like the January attack at Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, or terror
strikes in other European countries, is an event of global outreach that gives
the terror outfits a wider publicity, an increased outreach to recruit more, to
claim the world.
Of all European countries, France has been the
most involved one in strikes on Muslim terror outfits in the recent history.
Tunisia, being a French colony prior to its
independence, coupled with its successful democratic transition through a civil
uprising, is an antithesis to what all the terror outfits like the Islamic
State espouse.
It's not that all is well in Tunisia. There
are real threats - of increasing radicalization of youth - and of persisting presence of an Al Qaeda
offshoot (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb).
But there lies the point.
The Arab Spring has succeeded in Tunisia,
an Islamic country, in spite of these threats, fighting them while building up
a free society, a democratic country.
Something that could not happen in other Arab
countries, a fertile ground for the terror groups operating in the name of
Islam.
Tunisia is an example for democratic
spirits across the Arab nations - a consistent reminder for the dictators - and
a slap in the face of the terror warlords.
And the sinister minds would like to make
an example of this example.
Today's terror strike in Tunis may be a
well intended message to both Tunisia and to France and to the larger, free
democratic world.