Terrorism
In November 2004, a Secretary-General of the United Nations report described terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act". The international community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed, legally binding definition of this crime. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged. In this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated,
The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. During the 1970s and 1980s, the United Nations attempts to define the term floundered mainly due to differences of opinion between various members about the use of violence in the context of conflicts over national liberation and self-determination.
Al Hidayah (organisation)
At the opening press conference Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri shed light on the aims and objectives of the camp and emphasised on the reasons why he believes it is necessary to train the youth to tackle extremist ideologies. He said that this 3-day initiative is aimed at awakening the Muslim youth to challenge the arguments of the extremist and to promote the need of collective action for promotion of peace, interfaith dialogue, and harmony and addressing the misunderstandings and confusions the concepts of jihad, khilafah and democracy. Analysing the emergence of terrorism, he said that cancer of terrorism does not emerge from nowhere but it begins as an ‘ideological infection’ which is a narrow interpretation and vision of Islam. It is misinterpretation of the Quran, Hadith and classical authorities of Islam. He said this process begins in mosques, schools, Universities, and through the internet by extremist groups. They initially start persuading their argument which leads towards brainwashing. He said that "terrorism is a cancer that begins from and an ideological infection."