Punjab Terrorism

The work is a bold and impressive attempt to examine terrorism, terrorists and counter terrorism from a sociological perspective. The study is one of the rare efforts to explore into women’s experiences and perceptions of the Sikh militant violence, which had attracted world wide attention. It goes into the details about the terms ‘Violence’ and ‘Terror’ historically and how the term ‘terrorists’ evolved. The study convincingly demonstrates how the Punjabi women were forced to participate in the violent movement and to inevitably undergo torture and face a certain death no matter whether perceived as a terrorist by the state or as a police informer by the male terrorists .The work brings out the view that violence dehumanizes and reinforces unequal gender relations during the violent periods and the women bodies are the battle fields on which nationhood , community religion and politics get played out. These conclusions have universal application and thus the work has significantly contributed to the growth of knowledge in the study of women and their relation to violence