Terrorist attacks by militant refugees need to be stopped at any cost

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo) published its National Security Review on 29 October, saying that individuals or small groups supporting radical Islamism or far-right ideologies pose the greatest threat of terrorism in Finland.

The threat is likely to remain at level two (elevated) on the four-level scale in the short term.

The report also said that the threat of far-right terrorism has grown in the West, with an increase over the past 18 months in terrorist attack projects that seek to maximise casualties. International far-right online groups and messaging on social media platforms reinforce the transnational character of the extreme right.

The total number of counterterrorism targets has remained at approximately 390. The principal threat is posed by lone operators or small groups that support radical Islamist or far-right ideologies and are motivated by terrorist propaganda.

Supo has identified some groups and individuals with the motivation and capacity to carry out a terrorist attack in Finland. The ISIL and al-Qaeda terrorist organisations and their supporters remain a global threat. They are probably seeking to develop new tactics for mounting attacks, and will also continue to encourage attacks in Western countries.

Meanwhile, the recent terrorist attacks by radical Islamists in France raised concern over the security of the peace-loving people of the country. An 18-year-old refugee of Chechen origin decapitated a teacher on 16 October while another Tunisian refugee killed three worshipers at a church in the French City of Nice on 29 October. Such incidents are not new and have happened in Finland, too. On 18 August 2017, a Moroccan asylum seeker Abderrahman Bouanane killed two persons and injured eight others at the Market Place in Turku. We strongly protest the attacks on the innocent people by the zealots and at the same time express concern at the risk of loss of peacefulness in the society.

Considering the security threat assessed by Supo, the militant attacks in the recent years, the security of the people of Finland, and the continent as well, Europe needs to take stern measures unitedly to stop the anarchism. At the same time the EU member states should find out a permanent way of stopping such attacks in the future.

According to the previous data, Europe, including Finland, has given asylum to a number of refugees without knowing their link to fanatic and radical terrorist groups in Asia, Africa and other parts of the globe every year as a part of its humanitarian duty. We agree that the helpless people have the right to get shelters for their safety. The European countries are performing their role very well and accommodating thousands of helpless people to save their lives. But it is very unfortunate that the people who get shelter here, after being ousted from their own counties, are now attacking the hosts. We hope the refugee people should at least be rational in their attitude and reciprocation to the hosts, who do not expect gratefulness from them, because as per the European values, giving shelter to human beings is their duty and responsibility. Since several unwanted incidents have already taken place by this time, the EU needs to re-think about taking some measures to avoid such incidents in the future. The logical ground of accommodating refugees randomly should be reviewed, if they create threat to the lives of peaceful people and the society. We recommend that the immigration authorities should find out a mechanism to identify the radical fanatic people. The background of the suspected refugees need to be checked carefully to get an idea about them. Suspected refugees also should be examined psychologically to know if they subscribe to fanaticism before permitting them to stay here. They have right to live here but they have no right to create disturbance in the society. Creating violence and killing people are crimes and no religious fundamentalist and fanatic person should be allowed here to destroy the peacefulness of the society at any cost.

At the same time, the local people should know that all the immigrants living here are not refugees. A significant number of immigrants here in Finland and the Europe come on various purposes such as study, employment and business, etc. There are many immigrants, who uphold secular ideologies and believe in humanity irrespective of religion, nation, race, and group. It will not be just to treat all the immigrants equally, considering their traditional names and religious background, as it is not unlikely that there may be some people adhering to fanatic and radical ideology, too. The authorities should also verify their psychology to check the influx of zealots to the Europe.