Definition of terrorism?

A recent conversation on Twitter with an ex-colleague of mine got me thinking on the definition of terrorism. He called a certain organization a terrorist organization. I've always believed that, terrorizing innocent people is an act of terrorism and the perpetrators of terrorism are terrorists. Isn't this a simple test to determine whether an act is an act of terrorism or not? According to this test, the organization mentioned by my ex-colleague was indeed a terrorist organization.

Anyway, I decided to look up the definition of terrorism. Here is one of the definitions [source]

1. The deliberate commission of an act of violence to create an emotional response through the suffering of the victims in the furtherance of a political or social agenda.
2. Violence against civilians to achieve military or political objectives.
3. A psychological strategy of war for gaining political or religious ends by deliberately creating a climate of fear among the population of a state.

So any organization, military, country, government or individual that satisfies 1, 2 or 3 is committing an act of terrorism, which is an act against humanity.

As an individual who values life and believes that everybody has to do his/her part for the betterment of society, I'm deeply disappointed over the selective branding of only a few organizations as terrorists, while directly or indirectly condoning the terrorism committed by some other powerful entities.

So let us not selectively brand certain entities and be brave and open enough to call the act as we see it. All types of terrorism need to be defeated to make this world a better place. Trying to combat terrorism using terrorism will only give rise to more terrorists & terrorism.