Financing of terrorists by India

Needless to emphasize, terrorist financing is the lifeline for those who carry out this inhuman act. There is genuine concern and push at the global level to dry up the sources of funding to the terrorist entities by making it obligatory on all the states to cooperate in this regard and also asking the states whose soil allegedly is used by the terrorist groups to commit acts of terrorism to take administrative, legal and financial actions to block all avenues that facilitate flow of money to the terrorists. FATF is the global watch-dog in this regard. The modus operandi of the FATF is to place the concerned country either in its grey or black list and giving it a catalogue of the measures it must comply with to qualify for exit from the assigned list. It undoubtedly has serious repercussion for any country put on either of the lists as it renders the concerned country ineligible for loans and grants by the international lending agencies.

But the dilemma is that the very process of consigning any country to the designated list inextricably is linked to global politics rather than an objective and realistic mechanism to firm up this approach. Pakistan’s placement on the grey list in 2018 on the basis of the US-sponsored resolution, supported by its western allies, was a classic example of discriminatory treatment and a clear proof of how much influence the big powers wield on the international level to have their way. It was a time when the USA was pushing Pakistan ‘to do more’ and the relations between the two countries were at the lowest ebb. The move in fact was designed to put Pakistan under pressure.

But India, which has adopted terrorism as a state policy against its foes and adversaries, and has been supporting terrorist entities like ISIS and the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan through providing finances to these terrorist entities for carrying out terrorist acts within Pakistan, as corroborated by the Indian spy Kalbhshan jhadav, who was caught and convicted for sponsoring acts of terrorism and support to Baloch insurgents on behalf of Indian RAW, has not been touched or even asked to change course.

Kalbhushan Sudhir Jhadav, a serving commander in the Indian Navy, was arrested on 3 March 2016 in Balochistan while crossing over from Iran, in a counter-intelligence operation. He was found in possession of a valid Indian passport with a fake name of Hussain Mubarak. During the investigations Jhadav confessed that Indian intelligence agency RAW was involved in destabilizing Pakistan and he was a serving officer of the Indian Navy working in Pakistan at its behest. He also acknowledged that he launched a covert operation against Pakistan from the Iranian port of Chahbahar for which he used to get instructions from Joint Secretary of RAW Anil Gupta. According to him, RAW had been funding the Baloch separatists for carrying out their insurgency operations. Commander Jhadav also admitted that he had been directing various activities in Karachi and Balochistan on directions from RAW since 2013 and had a role in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi.

He was tried in the military court and awarded the death sentence. India took the issue to the ICJ, pleading for annulment of the sentence and his repatriation to India. The ICJ in its verdict though found Pakistan in violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations but said “it is not the conviction and sentence of Mr Jhadav which are to be regarded as violation of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention”. As is evident the substantive part of the verdict upheld and corroborated the Pakistani position in regards to the procedure adopted for trying Kalbhushan and the legitimacy of the sentence awarded to him. The verdict was an unequivocal confirmation of Indian involvement in terrorist acts within Pakistan and in funding to terrorists entities and insurgents.

The Modi government, inebriated by the RSS ideology of Hindutva, has also adopted an aggressive posture towards Pakistan posing a threat to regional security. It is therefore obligatory on the UN and the international community to stop India in her tracks before it is too late.

It is pertinent to mention that Latif Mehsud, a TTP leader who was caught in Afghanistan in 2013 by NATO forces while returning after his meetings with the Afghan leaders, admitted that Afghan intelligence agency DNS and RAW were supporting the TTP in carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan. Pakistan has shared a dossier with the UN, the USA and other important capitals with irrefutable evidence of Indian involvement in acts of terrorism within Pakistan.

The US magazine Foreign Policy in its article “Indians and Central Asians Are the New Face of the Islamic State” of 8 October 2020, elaborated about the stronghold of Daesh in India. The Economic Times, in its issue of 26 July 2020, reported that the UN had shown grave concerns on the increasing footprint of ISIS in India.

But it is regrettable to note that the FATF never raised even an eye brow over Indian state terrorism and financing of terrorist entities beyond its borders. Rehman Malik, Interior Minister in the PPP 2008-2013 government, in an article has claimed that he pointed out this discriminatory treatment to the FATF and the response that he received from FATF was that the Indian money laundering and financing did not fall within its domain. That is indeed a preposterous and mind-boggling reply and clearly indicates the FATF bias. The FATF has also adopted a very intrusive approach with regards to ensuring implementation of the 27 points it has arbitrarily given to Pakistan. Pakistan has already implemented 21 and the report on the remaining six has been submitted to the FATF.

The UN monitoring team responsible for tracking terrorist groups and their activities, in its 27th report to the UNSC, has acknowledged the ongoing efforts of the Pakistan government against elements involved in terrorist activities and arresting the individuals engaged in terrorism financing and clamping down on the assets of the said designated individuals and entities. This report of the UN is testimony to the fact that Pakistan was neither involved in terrorist financing nor in money laundering.

Apart from terrorist financing, India has also been using ‘Lawfare’ as a weapon to commit and justify acts of terrorism against people of Indian occupied Kashmir, indulging in extra-judicial killings of the Kashmiris and in suppressing the freedom struggle of the Kashmiris since 1989. Its security forces have been committing the foregoing heinous crimes with impunity enjoying the protection from prosecution given under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act 1990 (AFSPA). Amnesty International and other human rights bodies like Human Rights Watch have been regularly compiling report on human rights abuses in Indian-Occupied Kashmmir and the former even raised a voice for the repeal of AFSPA.

The Modi government has scrapped the special status of Indian-Occupied Kashmir and annexed the state to the Indian Union through the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, followed by promulgation of a law to change the demographic realities of the state. Even within India it has deprived 1.9 million Muslims in Assam of Indian citizenship through National Register of Citizens, which followed anti-Muslim legislation in the form of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. All the foregoing acts are in contravention of the international law, UN resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Modi government, inebriated by the RSS ideology of Hindutva, has also adopted an aggressive posture towards Pakistan posing a threat to regional security. It is therefore obligatory on the UN and the international community to stop India in her tracks before it is too late.