Abstract:

Violent extremism, as an unconventional means and phenomenon by which a weak party confronts a strong, and to achieve their own political or other non-purely selfish purposes through violence, threats and other destructive means. Violent extremism is usually manifested as political extremism, religious extremism and national extremism, it has thus also become one of the ideological roots of terrorism. As a great power in South Asia, India has been plagued by violent extremism since its independence. The frequent occurrence of violent attacks not only seriously affects the domestic security situation in India, but also poses a threat to peace and stability in South Asia. In addition, as one of the important nodes of the “turbulent arc of world terrorism”, the proliferation of violent extremism in India will further aggravate the instability in the region and even the whole world. Based on data from the violent attacks in India included the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP), this study analyzes the spatio-temporal evolution and driving mechanism of violent attacks in India from 1980 to 2017 by means of nuclear density analysis. The violent attacks in India are frequent, which have obvious targets and spatial orientation in the targets and the distribution of the events. The targets of violent attacks mainly refer to organizations such as government departments, the military, the police, the transportation department, and religious figures. From a spatial perspective, the violent attacks in India have spread from west to east, from north to south, and from border areas to inland. The characteristics show the development trend of local concentration and surface diffusion. Presented in the northwestern Jammu-Kashmir region and Punjab, the northeastern Assam and Manipur, the central Chhattisgarh and the eastern Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal Four gathering centers. A “T”-shaped spatial pattern is formed with the upper axis of the Indus River-the Ganges-Brahmaputra River as the horizontal axis, and the eastern Ghats and its northern mountains as the vertical axis. The research shows that it is affected by many factors, such as identity, economic problems, historical problems and interest demands, and under the promotion of religious extremism, national separatism, armed revolutionism, the interaction between actors, the violent attacks in India have shown that the subject of the attack has become more complicated and diversified. The scope of the attack has expanded, the attacks has become more frequent and violent attacks have far-reaching effects. At present, violent attacks and terrorist attacks occur frequently all over the world, which pose a great threat to regional stability, national security and international peace. The study on the spatio-temporal evolution and driving mechanism of violent attacks in India is of certain reference significance for global counter-terrorism strategy and harmonious development of global society.

Key words: violent attacks, religious extremism, national separatism, armed revolutionism, interest demands, India