Pakistani Intel Using Afghan ‘Hawala’ Cartel To Fund Terrorists in J&K

From influencing Kashmiri traders having businesses in south-east Asian nations, to using sea-route of Gujarat to cartel large consignments of drugs – the ISI is working on war-footing to extend financial support to terror units in the Valley

New Delhi:  A tight security cover over Kashmir, is forcing Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to evolve new ways of extending financial support to its terror outfits in the valley. According to reports, the ISI which is a surrogate in the context of the ongoing unrest and terrorism in the valley is working on war-footing to supply funds from various avenues and modes to terrorist organizations in Jammu-Kashmir. 

From influencing Kashmiri traders having businesses in south-east Asian nations, to using sea-route of Gujarat to cartel large consignments of drugs – the ISI is attempting every way to extend financial aid to help anti-India outfits resume unrest in the valley. 

Notably, the terrorists active in Jammu-Kashmir are grappling with a shortage of funds, with the security forces and central Intel agencies choking their financial lifeline. Longstanding hawala traders and many of their financers in the valley are currently in prisons or placed under house arrest. 

According to the sources, the terrorists arrested recently admitted that they are facing a shortage of both funding and weapons. The terror-funding racket being run from Pakistan has weakened due to the suspension of cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade and the cornering of major separatist leaders and traders associated with them. They said that local funding was also affected considerably because of the change in circumstances after August 2019 – post abrogation of Article 370.

Afghan Model

The central Intel agencies recently decoded a terror funding model, which was being plotted by the ISI in collusion with the traders and business groups. 

The ISI is establishing contacts with local business houses in New Delhi, Punjab, and Kashmir having international trade links in south-east Asian nations primarily Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. 

“They (ISI) are conspiring to send money to its network in Jammu-Kashmir by hiding it as profit from import-export of goods between these nations and local traders. The businesses of many Afghan traders have grown in the past five to six years. The people who earlier did business with traders associated with the ISI and Jihadi outfits are also involved in this terror funding model,” explained a senior officer. 

The ISI is also eyeing residents of Jammu-Kashmir who have gone to Europe on employment. They intend to send money through these individuals for their terror-pawns in the region. 

“These funds are been attempted to be wire-transferred, disguised as employment perks, bonus, award money or even as advance payments. The individual in Europe will be paid a certain percentage for allowing the ISI to use their bank wires,” said the officer, while adding that intel agencies are also closely watching the foreign currency flown in by individuals residing in Kashmir, New Delhi, and Punjab. 

Narco-Terror Funds

If the agencies monitoring the hawala and funding network of terrorists are to be believed, the terror group leaders in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are playing an active role in the trade of narcotics through the Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies. 

Pakistani agencies are ensnaring the residents of PoK, abutting the LoC, to help transport narcotics. These people send narcotics to Srinagar and then to other parts of the country for a very low commission. 

“This money from the drug cartel is being used to fund terror operations through the network active in Kashmir. Around 80 percent of the heroin that comes to Jammu-Kashmir and Punjab across the border actually comes from Afghanistan,” informed the officer, while adding that in the recent months, the cases of drug cartels using the sea-route of Gujarat has also increased.

According to records, in the past couple of months, several attempts to cartel drugs via sea-route along the coast of Kutch have been busted by security agencies. 

On 21 May, six Pakistani nationals were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for attempting to smuggle 218 kg of narcotics at Gujarat’s Jakhau port. The DRI got a specific intel-input that a Pakistani fishing vessel carrying a huge quantity of narcotic drugs would deliver the consignment to suspected recipients mid-sea for further distribution in India. On 6 January, five Pakistani citizens were apprehended for attempting to deliver drugs estimated to be around $1.37 billion. The drugs were hidden inside a Pakistani fishing trawler, which entered Indian waters from the sea near Jakhau village in Gujarat. 

Drugs Worth $ 40 billion Seized in Four Years

Major metropolitan cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara have become hubs for drug trafficking cartels from Pakistan. This is to indicate that in the last four years, drugs worth $40 billion have been recovered from Gujarat. 

According to information obtained from sources, the cartels have changed their way of trafficking drugs. An international drug mafia syndicate linked to Pakistan is growing its cartel operations along the Jakhau coastline in Kutch. Thus, a joint surveillance operation is underway to monitor the Saurashtra coastline to prevent drug trafficking from the waters between the coasts of India and Pakistan.

The pressure mounted by the Indian army on the LoC in Jammu-Kashmir has forced the drug mafia to change their trafficking routes. Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad has so far, foiled four attempts by cartels to bring drugs worth millions inside the state via the Jakhau coast.

Terror Funding Commanders in PoK Replaced

Sources claimed that radical outfits that nurture terror have now asked most separatists appointees and hawala traders in Kashmir to conceal their activities. 

The ISI has strategically replaced the funding commanders of the jihadi organizations active in Kashmir as well as those in the terror network in PoK. In their place, the people on the sidelines have been handed the command. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen has handed the command of funding to Bilal Shera and Sher Khan, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba has tasked Talha and Waleed with the operations.