But now things have begun to go beyond that because the Islamic fundamentalists have begun to gain popular sanction as well. In other words, the people at large have approved of their activities and voted many of them to the representative bodies of their country. The Islamic fundamentalist parties might not have made impressive gains but what they have achieved in four countries was sufficient to inspire people in other countries to follow a similar path. That is the reason why the alarm bells have begun to ring with the leaders in different countries and strategists around them having no clue as to how to prevent the new menace from spreading to larger areas.

In the last three months, the Islamic fundamentalist parties have won the popular sanction in four countries. In Pakistan, they won 59 of 342 seats. Muttahida-Majilis-e-Hamal is a conglomerate of the known terrorist groups. It is now calling the shots in the country that is under military rule even though the Pakistan CEO General Pervez Musharraf likes to pretend that he had established a civilian democracy by holding general elections in his country. Pakistan has passed through trauma because it was forced to participate in an American war against Afghanistan that was controlled by the Taliban that had given shelter and full support to the Arabian exiled billionaire Osama bin Laden who was believed to have been behind the shattering attack against the U. S. A. in September 2001. The Islamic fundamentalists have made major gains in the North Frontier province that adjoins Afghanistan.

However, what can be explained easily are the gains by the fundamentalists in the national assembly elections in the empire of Morocco where they made an impressive show of winning 42 seats out of 325 seats. This was the first time when the fundamentalist party had entered into the electoral arena and it has received popular sanction despite its known activities of violence against the state. Even the case study of Bahrain cannot be easily explained because the fundamentalists have carried away nearly half the seats. They won 19 seats out of 42 for which the elections were held.

But the most enigmatic is the result in Turkey where the Islamic fundamentalist parties have bagged 363 seats out of 550. Obviously they have emerged with a clear popular mandate behind them. It is surprising because Turkey has been a liberal democracy, though in the last two elections fractured verdicts were returned in the country resulting in introduction of the politics of coalition. The politics of coalition might give temporary respite of avoiding an immediate election. However, the politics of coalition takes a heavy toll of ideology because as a coalition grows out of compulsion of circumstances, there are compromises at the highest political level. Since the ideological content is reduced, the people tend to evaluate the parties by their performance. Obviously, the traditional and conservative parties have failed in Turkey. They had to make political space for the Islamic fundamentalists.

It is obvious that the grounds for their emergence and the popular sanctions to them are a result of the failure of old regimes to meet the political and other aspirations of their people. Corruption alone can be a determinant factor in the eerie electoral results. There is something much more than rampant corruption.

Ever since the United States of America launched a war against terrorism, it has been interpreted as a war against Islam. The U. S. Administration and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair have made attempts to clarify that their war against terrorism was not against the noble religion of Islam. It was against the jehadi mentality that was spreading violence all over the world. But this clarification is not convincing only because of the harsh attitude that the American Administration has adopted. Reports clearly indicate how visitors are treated once it was known that they bear Muslim names. Such humiliation at the airports, bus depots and even in public places does create rancour and bitterness. When such stories reach home, they rattle the local population and the fundamentalists gain fertile grain to convince the local population that the U. S. war against terrorism was not against terrorism, it was against Islam. How does any strategist meet such a fertile situation?

Several Islamic countries might have remained with the United States of America out of political compulsions and geo-political necessity. However, the governments have obviously not made any attempts to improve their governance or convince their people that American response was a result of what some of their own men have been doing. It is a fact that Americans raised Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda force because it needed the force to fight the Russians who had occupied Afghanistan. The strategists in America forgot that once a monster is bred, it has a habit of growing out of control. It has happened in less than a decade when Laden swore enmity with the U. S. A. and promised a deathblow to American interests. The United States of America could not positively claim that it had definitely annihilated Osama bin Laden or his entire group. Very few Taliban have come in the hands of the U. S. A. because the rest of them have managed to escape the dragnet. Hence the victory of the fundamentalists in the northern region of Pakistan has not come as a surprise. The Pakistani President might pretend that he was with the U. S. A. in the war against terrorism but he cannot allow and would not allow the American forces to take any decisive actions in the northern provinces where many Al Qaeda leaders are supposed to be hiding and actively supporting terrorism.

The development is dangerous because inherent in the rise of the fundamentalist forces in different parts is the script for annihilation of human beings, destruction of lives and properties but above all the conditions of instability and chaos all over. The war to prevent their spread was not short term. By merely improving the conditions in madrasas was not enough to meet the situation. All those who are joining terrorist groups have not been products of madrasas alone. Many of them have been to modern universities in their country and also abroad. The brief life sketch of Samudra alias Abdul Aziz who is supposed to be the kingpin in the terrorist bomb blasts in Bali Island shows him to be a successful engineer. The terrorists who blew up the twin towers at the World Trade Centre were highly educated characters. They were fired by the desire to protect Islam and destroy the enemies of Islam. Who was responsible for brainwashing their minds to an extent that they were willing to sacrifice their lives? What the pressures are under which they are being trained needs an answer.