SQUEEZING OUT TERROR

Young Bites. Dated: 4/24/2019 9:29:33 AM


Govt launches economic offensive, suspends LoC trade to choke money laundering and illegal funding to militants In the multi-front war against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the Valley post Pulwama, the Government has now moved in with a counter-offensive that hits where it hurts most — choking funds. So soon after withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, the government has moved to the next level of drying up the conduits of money exchange. It has suspended cross-LoC trade, the volume of which is small but enough to keep diplomacy going. This comes significantly on a day when Pakistan belligerently said that it would not be pressured by anyone on banning Masood Azhar and would decide what to do with him in its national interest. India obviously needed to respond to this nonchalance. Besides, with the general election pivoted around national security, the ruling government seeking a fresh mandate doesn’t want to be seen as stuck on Balakot and not following up on its promise to root out terror demonstrably. The LoC trade began as a confidence- building measure in the Vajpayee years, largely intended to facilitate exchange of goods of common use between local populations on both sides on a zero duty basis. Before Pulwama, there was even talk of expanding the trade facilitation centres from the two currently operating out of Salamabad, Uri and Chakkan-da-Bagh, Poonch. But a closer monitoring by security agencies has revealed that LoC trade is now being misused on a large scale, allowing in third party trade and products from other regions, including foreign countries and is funnelling hawala money, fake notes, drugs and weapons. Besides, trading companies are run by people linked to banned terrorist organisations that wean away local youth with lucre and deploy them for disruptive activities as the face of homegrown terror. Investigations by the National Investigatve Agency (NIA) have further revealed that those who have crossed over to PoK and joined militant organisations there have set up trading firms because no filters apply there. Most of the illegal fund transfers happen through invoicing frauds of commodities listed as worthy of business, like dry fruits and carpets. So though their sale may be under-invoiced and appear as market price in bills, fact is the PoK seller may pay the wholesaler in Kashmir much more in liquid cash. This huge cache of money is then released in instalments to finance militant operations. Given the hyper- tense situation in the Valley, the best way to de-escalate the threat perception is, therefore, to snap the money supply chain, and by extension, attack capability. No group, despite its best intention, can execute the best laid plans in the absence of infrastructure and back-up. However, trade is not the only squeeze that can work. Most of the terror funding happens through religious charities, too. Contributions collected by both individuals and groups in Saudi Arabia were the reason for the creation of the global terror group, Al-Qaeda. In Pakistan, Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed is still being funded by charities. And it is only after Balakot that Pakistan has frozen the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which has clandestinely financed Lashkar-e-Tayyeba for years, simply because the latter has outlived its purpose and can be shown as part of an “action taken” statistic. But everybody knows the cadres lie low, regroup and re-emerge with a new identity funded by another new trust, too new to be investigated even. But the government needs to keep a vigil on not-for-profit trusts as well as organised crime networks. Money made from trafficking of narcotics, weapons and counterfeiting is routinely diverted to terrorism. The Taliban bred on opium money and organised crime networks funded the Mumbai blasts of 1993. If the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates are anything to go by, then the amount of money laundered globally each year is between two and five per cent of the world’s GDP. A small fraction diverted to terrorist activities can cost us big time, not just by way of human casualties but infrastructure damage in a routine blast. While the LoC trade remains suspended pending a stricter regulatory mechanism and the local economy may yet suffer, people-to-people contact in Kashmir will remain hostage to security concerns.

 

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