Doctors building bombs, universities training terrorists — white-collar terrorism is not new, it’s just been ignored. Counter-terrorism researcher Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya of the Institute of Conflict Management joins Sangam Talks after the November 2024 Red Fort blast to explain how educated, professionally accomplished individuals have always been part of terror networks.

She draws a sharp distinction: impulsive violence differs entirely from the cold premeditation required to plan a mass casualty event — the clinical mindset closer to Nazi-style ideological engineering than spontaneous radicalisation. She notes that the “terrorist looks a certain way” stereotype was constructed after 9/11 but obscures a historical truth: from Aligarh to Alfala University, educational institutions have repeatedly served as recruitment and training hubs. The pattern of using medical and professional credentials as cover for sleeper cell operations is documented and consistent.

About The Speaker:
Dr Sanchita Bhattacharya
Research Fellow, Institute of Conflict Management
Co-author: Taliban Misrule in Afghanistan
Expert on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh terrorism
Published in The Interpreter, East Asia Forum, The Quint

Debasis Sarkar is an Anchor at The Sangam Talks and an independent researcher in Indology.