S M Hali There are various techniques that are being employed by the terrorists worldwide to subvert the uneducated youth and infiltrate communities or masses to gain their support during the planning and execution phases. But the question is: How is an individual transformed from an innocent bystander to an agent of death? The harbingers of hate follow a rigid curriculum in brainwashing young men to become suicide bombers. Because it is not easy to replace an individuals intrinsic love of life with death worship, propelling him on a path that ultimately ends up with him donning a suicide jacket ready to become a gory statistic. The methodology commences with indoctrination lectures, which progress from general to specific. Throughout these lectures, the young recruits are convinced that their religion is the most superior in the universe with all the rest being false or erroneous, while the adherents of other religions are actually an impediment in the spread of the one true religion. These initial lectures are rendered with the fire and brimstone method of rhetoric. Next, through daily teachings of hour-long sessions, it is instilled in the recruits minds that the path they have chosen is essentially struggling in the cause of God. This first indoctrination step, acting as a foundation for what is to come, is relatively simple. Soon afterwards they are introduced to the implement that will launch them on that one-way journey to the heavens - the suicide jacket. Starting from the trigger mechanism to its contents and effects, with painstaking thoroughness, the children are taught about the instrument of death. They are told that it usually consists of several pockets filled with plates or sticks of explosives. The explosive is surrounded by material for fragmentation effects. The resultant shrapnel is responsible for most of the bombs lethality i.e. about 90 percent of all casualties caused by an exploding suicide jacket. A loaded jacket may weigh between five to 20 kilograms, with 60-40 ratio of explosive to shrapnel material and may be easily hidden under loose flowing garments. For excellent shrapnel effects, small metal pieces are used like ball bearings, nails, screws, nuts and metal wire. In the evening, further indoctrination classes are held. In a mellifluous tone, the teacher explains to the children that, for example the western, culture is leading the devout astray from God. The non-belief of the West is so grave a sin that it merits death for it is becoming a hurdle to the spread of the one true religion. It is imprinted on the impressionable minds that the current miserable plight of the recruits nation is because of wandering away from the chosen path. By the end of these lectures, the recruit is usually filled with a feeling of utter humiliation and blinding rage and hatred for infidels and their local lackeys. At night, the children are made to sleep cuddling their suicide jackets to get used to a garment they will be wearing till they go to their Maker. The cycle of lectures and practical drills goes on for months. On the last day, the recruits are told that their training is over and they now have to wait for the calling - a proposition almost unbearable for some of the impatient ones. Anyway, this is the method to their madness that needs to be countered. One way to counter it is the resumption of local community vigilance system, coordination with police and the monitoring of childrens activities by their parents. Communities and the masses need to learn the techniques used by the terrorists to subvert their targets and motivate them to offer cooperation to the community leaders and the law enforcing agencies to counter the threat or menace of terrorism. The writer is a political and defence analyst.