Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is once again in controversy over its counter-terrorism course. Under the existing course, a new elective under the course ‘Counter-Terrorism, Asymmetric Conflicts and Strategies for Cooperation among Major Powers’ has allegedly called Jihadi violence the ‘only religious fundamentalists’. The course, under module, ‘State-sponsored Terrorism: Its Influence and Impact’ also refers to the Soviet Union and China alone for state-sponsored terrorism.

The course is available for engineering students who opt for a dual degree and go on to pursue an MS with specialisation in International Relations after completing their  BTech in JNU.  It is an elective course launched around 2018. Near its launch there were reports that JNU is launching a course in ‘Islamic Terrorism’, however, the varsity had refused these claims and launched a course on counter-terrorism.

As reported by The Indian Express, one of the new course’s modules, titled ‘Fundamentalist-religious Terrorism and its Impact’, states: “Fundamentalist – religious-inspired terrorism has played a very critical and dominant role in the spawning of terrorist violence in the beginning of the 21st century. The perverse interpretation of the Koran has resulted in the rapid proliferation of a jihadi cultist violence that glorifies death by terror in suicidal and homicidal variants.”

“The Soviet Union and China have been predominant state-sponsors of terrorism and they have been heavily involved in terms of their intelligence agencies training, aiding and providing logistical support to Communist ultras and terrorists,” one of the course modules reads as per The Indian Express report.

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