After a long wait, in the year 2022, Pakistan was removed from the gray list by the international organization Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The list contains those countries where terror funding is highest. If action is not taken against terrorists, the country goes into the blacklist, after which no international organization gives loan to that country.
Terror was controlled for loan
After coming in the gray list, anyone was afraid of investing their money in Pakistan. Seeing this, he took some action against terrorism and came out of the list, but once again his behavior seems to be the same as before. Terrorist activities are continuously increasing in Kashmir. The recent encounter is considered to be the third longest encounter in the history of Kashmir. That means obviously the terrorists must have brought strong training from Pakistan.
News and videos of starvation are going viral from there. According to the local newspaper Dawn, by March 2022, Pakistan’s total debt had reached approximately 43 lakh crore Pakistani rupees. Even after this, money is raised for terrorism. There is not just one, but many sources for this.
Where does the money come from?
According to the estimates of Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Pakistan spends more than Rs 24 crore annually on terrorist activities in Kashmir alone. This money is distributed not among one group, but among many different extremist organizations.
Everyone’s responsibility is decided in advance as to how much money is to be spent and on what work. In this, there are many tasks ranging from changing the minds of the people living in Kashmir to provoking them to become a part of terrorism. After this, training is given and weapons are provided. A huge amount of money is spent by Pakistan on all these works.
Different organizations give different figures regarding terror funding. For example, according to a research by Columbia University, Pakistan spends approximately Rs 40 crore to spread terrorism in Kashmir. According to the American intelligence agency FBI, this number is many times higher than this.
Does the government also fund?
Terrorism is not directly state-sponsored. It continued to receive money from Islamic State (ISIS). The allegation against the government is that it ignores everything despite knowing it. These groups are flourishing right under her nose and she does not take action.
Which terrorist groups are there in Pakistan
There are groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Omar, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Harkatul Mujahideen, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jundalla, Islamic State Khorasan Province. Apart from these, many foreign terrorist groups are also camping here, which are related to Islamic extremism. It is believed that Pakistani intelligence agency Inter Service Intelligence is also involved in this. She also works in training terrorists.
Money comes in these ways
There are many sources for this. Drug trade is at the top in this. The nexus of narcotics and terrorism is such that it has given birth to a new term narco-terrorism. Terrorist groups earn most of their income from drug trade. The money earned from this goes towards terror funding. This is the reason why the drug trade flourished so much in Kashmir. Since the nineties, Pakistani terrorists had started providing drugs to the youth here. One purpose of this was to mislead them and join them, while the other purpose was to weaken their mind and body.
Money also comes from activities like ransom and fake currency business. Consignments of fake notes have been caught several times in Kashmir.
Recovery even in the name of charity
Some part of the activities done by Pakistan to bring instability in Kashmir is also of so-called charity. In the name of charity for religion, extremist groups extort money from the rich. There are many such organizations in Karachi, which ask for money in the name of Jihad Fund. Generally, terrorist organizations state their objective as protection of Islam and expansion of Islam in the world.
Many conspiracy theories regarding terror funding
Saudi remained under suspicion for a long time. After the attack on America, Osama bin Laden took refuge in Pakistan. Even then Pakistan’s connection with Saudi and terrorism was clear. However, for the past few years, Saudi’s entire focus has been on cleaning its image and increasing tourism, hence it seems to be far away from Pakistan.