Externally sponsored and internally abetted terrorism in J&K has entered twenty-fifth year of its prevalence. It has consumed thousands of precious lives including those of the security forces fighting the menace. In fact, Pakistan had been making full preparations right from the times of late General Zia for a proxy war against India in Kashmir. Pakistani ISI then under the direction of Zia had chalked out an operation codenamed Operation Topac. The planners drew minutest details of induction of terror through Kashmiri youth lured to the terrorist camps established by the joint operation of Pakistan army and the ISI. During the first decade of armed insurgency in Kashmir, handlers of Kashmir terror implemented most parts of Operation Topac. The more significant achievement was that the terrorists from across the border succeeded in establishing local underground networks that rendered critical support and roadmap to terrorism in Kashmir valley and parts of Jammu region like Doda, Poonch, Rajouri etc…
In particular, the handlers took care of financial aspect of terror in Kashmir. We all know that terror cannot survive in the face of resistance by the state unless it has sound financial backing. The ISI, through its international operatives, galvanized the Kashmiri and Pakistani Diaspora in Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries and in UK and US into forming financial conduits for the terrorists raised in Pakistan and operating in Kashmir. Thus came into existence contrivance like hawala and clandestine remittances of huge amounts of money coming through various sources and channels. This money ultimately found the destination with the terrorist organizations in J&K. Despite tightening of the noose by the intelligence sleuths and the police sources, it was not that easy to get at the roots of the perfidy and track down the culprits who broke the law of the land and fed terror in the State. The finance ministry and its adjuncts took several measures to freeze the enormous amounts. However, various legal and technical flaws came in their way that frustrated outright action of the state. It was in this background that a recommendation came from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-Governmental body that looks after how to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats. The Centre set up a working group to asses the terror threat, its vulnerability in banking, insurance, capital market and financing institutions. On August 19, the working group sent to all State Governments and Union Territories a communication along with the three templates on ‘terrorism threat’, ‘terrorism financing threat’ and ‘terrorism financing vulnerability’ asking them to reply by August 30. No State Government has reacted to this notification. Obviously, it means they have not taken it seriously. That is a sad part of it. Either they do not understand the gravity of situation or they have skeletons to hide in their cupboards. In either case, it is regrettable.
There is no denial of the fact that our enemies are operating against us in many ways not just one or two. Just infiltration from the border is not the only menace we have to face. We have come across money laundering on a large scale, fake currency printing and exporting to our country through unpatriotic and socially criminal conduits. We have reports of terrorist organizations trying to buy informers within the administrative structure and remitting monies to so-called social organizations that pretend to be doing humanitarian work but actually using their NGOs as masks. These are the realities about money transactions of terrorist groups. True that the terrorist money transactions may not be taking place in some of the States of the Union, and they have not much to disclose to the Centre in this behalf. However, the Central Government wants to know what input the States have on this crucial issue and how it can be resisted. As such, the information sought is of vital importance and the State Governments, especially J&K and Naxal violence struck State Governments should have cooperated with the Centre and furnished the requisite information. Unless the centre has complete picture of the three templates it has set forth for examination, it cannot devise comprehensive mechanism to counter clandestine financing of the terrorists in the country.
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