Terrorism is neither a new phenomenon nor a concept with an Islamic patent. The traces of terrorism are found in the 1st century A.D when a group known as 'Sicarii in time of zealots used assassination tactics with short daggers against Jews. Centuries later a group called 'Hashashins used the same tactics in the 11th century A.D, although , this time the victims were in Persia and Syria. Fast-forward another 7 centuries and we reach 1793 when Maximilien Robespierre wrote a book 'Regime de Terreur suggesting that terrorism should be used as an instrument of the state. 150 years later, the Japanese Kamikazes (suicide bomber pilots) came on the scene, followed by the LTTE and Fidayeen in Palestine. The recent wave of terror labeled 'The new wave by US President is linked to Islam only in continuation of the old ones. IRA (Ireland), ETA (Spain), RAF (Germany) & Red Brigade (Italy) were all movements of the West, and not from the world of Islam. Although most of them were essentially left wing parties during the Cold War, they all carried out indiscriminate killing of civilians as well as kidnapping and assassination attempts on heads of states. The so-called 'Islamic terrorism has not introduced anything new. Its the media which has blown it out of proportion. Take a look at history and you know that terrorists have always had some justification for their inhuman acts, whether it was for liberation of a nation, religion or some other ideology. However, we see that whenever the public opinion turned against the movement or it lost its moral ground, it died its own death. See what happened to Red Brigade, RAF and ETA? -KHURRUM NIAZI, Rawalpindi, October 26.