2015: Terrorism, exodus, to safety remained in focus

The year 2015 witnessed a massive rise in the terrorist activities around the globe, change of political leadership in many countries, a spurge of refugees to Europe and other countries. Terrorism remained the leading pain for many nations.  Starting from Boko Haram’s deadliest massacre at Baga town in Nigeria killingabout 2000 people in January to Paris attack in November, such attacks remained in the forefront. Even  Cartoonist faced wrath of Islamists.  11 people were killed and about same number of persons were injured on 7 January when two brothers, armed with assault rifles opened firing inside the office of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.  The gunmen were later identified to have links with Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.

A Russian airliner with 217 passengers and seven crewmembers on-board crashed near Sinai in Egypt on October 31. The Russian Security Service (FSB) claimed that traces of explosives were found among the debris. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the incident.  Following the incident, Russia jumped into the war against ISIS in Syria by launching a massive airstrike on the regions held by the terror group. India too have had its share of Pakistan sponsored terror attacks and cross border violations. An attack originating from Pakistan left two India’s Border Security Force (BSF) constables dead on the crucial Jammu-Srinagar highway on August 05. While one terrorist was killed on the spot, Mohammed Naved Yakub, resident of Pakistan was apprehended by villagers giving enough evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the act of terrorism.

The historic Myanmar election was a major milestone for pro-democracy activists across the world. The elections saw relinquishing of power by the country’s powerful military junta and installation of pro-democracy icon Aun San Suu Kyi to the reins of the government. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) had won the November 8 elections in a landslide victory. Canada too saw a change of leadership at the Federal level, where Liberal leader registered a massive win to unseat Stephen Harper bringing an end to a rule that witnessed allegation of scams  and unfulfilled promises.  The Liberals rewrote  several Canadian election records with their victory including having the largest-ever increase in seats by a party, having the fewest number of seats before the election and going on to win it plus being the first party to win a Canadian election without being either the governing party or the opposition immediately before. 

Another star rose in India with a hope to bring an end to corruption. In one of the most striking comebacks in the Indian political history, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),  led by Arvind Kejriwal, registered a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly Elections, and knocked the two major parties – Congress and Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party – and their veterans. The defeat in the Delhi polls, the result of which was declared on February 10, 2015, was the first faced by the BJP since its historic Lok Sabha triumph. The results further saw the Congress, which had ruled the national capital for 15 years till 2013, being reduced to naught. In one of the most interesting electoral battles in the recent history, the Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress coalition of Grand Alliance recorded a landslide victory in the Bihar Assembly Elections. The elections did not only spell the hat-trick for Nitish Kumar but also witnessed the stunning comeback of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD in the politics of Bihar. Despite leading an aggressive poll campaign and promising to shower huge funds on Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s magic failed to write the success story for the BJP. The two elections showed that there is nothing permanent in politics,  Modi who came to power with lot of promise and pomp had to see his popularity taking a dip. Modi also faced criticism for criticising earlier ruling parties of India during his foreign trips.

2015 witnessed perhaps one of the biggest mass movement of people ever recorded in recent past between continents. To escape the tentacles of torture in war torn nations in Africa and Asia have been uncountable people are making their way to Europe and other continents in anticipation of better security, while the recipients are expressed fear of their own security. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump being one of them. However, this unprecedented scale of people seeking shelter has overwhelmed Europe’s capacity to accommodate them all. Countries like Germany, Belgium, Turkey and France have stretched to their limit and are now finding it increasingly difficult to accommodate this steady stream of people seeking asylum. This mass exodus of people to Europe and other places is now a global concern and the world leaders must have to find a solution sooner than later, and perhaps the answer to which lies in the countries from where the migrants have come from.