Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremist Propaganda in Sri Lanka Through Strategic Communication

Abstract

Radicalization and violent extremism driven by religious, racial and ethnic supremacist ideology has become the new face of the ever-evolving landscape of terrorism. Gone are the days when only a military approach with either a kill-or-capture directive was required to root-out the scourge of terrorism. With the advent of social media and innovations in information communication technology, terrorist groups are now waging information warfare with the primary goals of propagating their ideology, create a fear psychosis, expand their support and recruit extremist terrorists. Terror groups such as ISIS have been successful in recruiting thousands of foreign fighters through successful publicity campaigns on social media platforms and misinformation campaigns against their adversaries. This phenomenon has created the need for a more holistic and integrated counter terrorism strategy to be adopted and implemented. Strategic communications and counter narratives is the new weapon against the ideological war on terror. Since the end of a three decade long protracted war in 2009, Sri Lanka has been grappling with the growing influence of Muslim Jihadi and Buddhist extremism. This paper will take an in-depth look into the rise of violent extremist groups in the wake of a post conflict scenario and their implications on Sri Lanka’s national security. While examining the rise of Jihadi Muslim extremism and Buddhist extremism, this paper aims at providing recommendations on an integrated and collaborative strategic communication framework that is paramount to counter terrorism and violent extremism in the present security dimension.