The officials also exposed the role of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the 2008 Mumbai attacks before the CTC by playing an audio clip of top LeT operative Sajid Mir, in which he can be heard giving instructions to the attackers at Chabad House, a Jewish outreach centre where several Israeli citizens were killed.

The officials were briefing the members of the CTC during an informal session held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of the main targets of the attacks carried out in November 2008 by a 10-member LeT team.

Mir was arrested by Pakistani authorities and convicted of terror financing earlier this year, just ahead of a plenary meeting of the FATF. This followed years of claims by Pakistan that Mir was dead, an issue highlighted by one of the two intelligence officials who made the briefings. The terror-financing watchdog removed Pakistan from its grey list last week after more than four years.

In his presentation before the CTC, senior Intelligence Bureau officer Safi Rizvi said without naming Pakistan: “The FATF grey-listing of a troublesome jurisdiction and UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad [in 2001] and Lashkar-e-Taiba [in 2005] as well as nine India focused terrorist individuals have been able to create an impact by bringing down attacks on hard targets in Kashmir, reduction of terror bases across the border, open raising of funds and open terror activity between 2018 and mid-2021.”

He specifically mentioned the FATF listing of Pakistan, saying it provided India “a window of relative peace”.

“The FATF, in the last 10 years, has been a very effective tool to implement those very [UN] designations. While there were intelligence-led counter-terrorism operations, Balakot airstrikes [after the Pulwama attack of 2019] and removal of Article 370 from Kashmir which pushed the terror infrastructure in a troublesome jurisdiction [Pakistan], a large portion of the credit goes to FATF grey listing and the UN designation,” Rizvi said.

“In the mid of 2018, there were 600 terror bases across the border, which went down by 75% during FATF listing. This, we think, is the most important success, on account of which the counter-terrorism community should take a deeper look at as to how effective designations are,” he added.

He, however, expressed concerns that Pakistan’s removal from the grey list has already led to an increase in terrorist activity in India. “The moment talks started that grey listing [of Pakistan] is about to end, things have started to slide back. There is an increase in terror bases by 50% and we are expecting more scalable attacks on hard targets, and much more trouble,” Rizvi said.

By hard targets, the officer meant well-defended government establishments and military camps in Kashmir.

Earlier, in a presentation on terrorism, Pankaj Thakur, joint secretary in the home ministry, said the Mumbai attackers were trained in Muzaffarabad in June-August 2008 and were given motivational speeches by LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The attackers were also trained at Muridke near Lahore for two months in matters such as hostage-taking. In September 2008, they received marine training, including GPS-based navigation. When they infiltrated Mumbai, the attackers remained in constant touch with their LeT handlers through VoIP phone. Among the key conspirators was an ISI official identified only as Major Iqbal, Thakur said.

Thakur played the audio of Sajid Mir, in which the LeT operative responsible for surveillance of the targets in Mumbai, can be heard giving instructions to terrorists who were at Chabad House. He said a proposal for sanctioning Mir at the UN Security Council was on hold.

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Over the last several decades, many Wahhabi organisations developed, flourished and survived in India. Most escaped the reach of our agencies and the strategic community, either because of lack of sufficient knowledge or lack of adequate political will to tackle them. The most prominent feature of such organisations is the legal umbrella under which they operate. They often work under the garb of rights ad charity groups, NGOs and religious institutions. However, internally they work to radicalise the demography selected by them, which is across faiths. This leads to polari sation, fuels hatred and causes germination of fundamentalist terrorist ideologies. A sophisticated network of organisations managed to thrive despite the heavy machinery of the Indian state.

Case of So-called Charities

The role of external support to such organisations is the most potent driving factor in the spread of radical ideologies in India. For instance, the import of Saudi endorsed hard-line Wahhabi ideology in the 1980s sprouted the seed of extremism in the Kashmir Valley. In the most recent example, the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based organisation, came across a massive cache of documents associated with Qatar-based Sheikh Eid Bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association, also referred to as Eid Charity. It is claimed that Eid Charity, perhaps out of ignorance of the nature of the donees, funnelled millions of dollars since 2008-09 into India, funding organisations associated with the Wahhabi school of thought that is in fact antithetical to Islam. Eid Charity came under global scrutiny in 2013 when one of its founders, Abd Al-Rahman al-Nu’aymi, was named as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGTs) by the US Department of Treasury. He was sanctioned for providing financial and material support to Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Somalia. The association also works with other charity groups in Qatar, such as Qatar Charity and Foundation Sheikh Thani Ibn Abdullah for Humanitarian Services (RAF). Donations made by these are under investigation in the US and elsewhere. Qatar needs to avoid falling into the FATF “Grey List” in the manner that its close allies Pakistan and Turkey have.

Investigation of documents revealed over 1,200 transactions made to India either directly under the name of Eid Charity or through individualistic contributions. A total of QR 28.492855 million (USD 7.82 million approx.) were transferred to eight organisations in India. The money was distributed for projects ranging from direct financial support within the Muslim community to other religious and community action programs such as building/supporting mosques and building handpumps.

The Kerala-based Salafi Philanthropic Society, registered as Salafi Charitable Trust Narikkuni, received the largest cache of funds, involving around USD 4.9 million between 2008-17. This charity group is run by another Qatar-based charity group mentioned earlier, RAF. The RAF is run by a royal family member of Qatar and was black-listed for terror financing by Arab nations in 2017. The Foundation has serious charges levied against it, including funding Al Qaeda affiliated groups Al Nusra in Syria and arming Muslim-Brotherhood-backed fighters in Sudan. It denies such charges.

A large part of the money received by Salafi Charitable Trust was meant to be directed towards individual financial assistance within the poor Muslim population. Money was also given for projects such as countrywide distribution/promotions of Hijab. Dr Hussain Madavoor runs the trust as its chairman. He is one of Kerala’s most prominent religious figures and vice president of one of Kerala’s largest faith-based organisations, Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM), which has tried to project itself as a progressive group over the years.

In a video message posted on Facebook in 2018, Dr Madavoor supported Peace Education Foundation and its founder and managing director, M.M. Akbar. Peace Education Foundation has been on the radar of security agencies since 2016 when it came to public notice that several ISIS recruits from Kerala had an association with the foundation. Akbar is known for his controversial speeches and is often called “Zakir Naik of Kerala”, another Islamic preacher absconding from India on terrorism and money laundering charges. Akbar was arrested in 2017 while trying to fly to Qatar on the charges of radicalising school children through alleged radical content in Peace-funded schools.

In an audio message released by ISIS-KP, Abdul Rashid Abdullah, the mastermind behind the ISIS module in Kerala and former employee at Peace Foundation, claimed that there are ISIS supporters among the teachers and parents of Peace schools. He also alleged that during a public interview, the group tried to conceal the identity of at least two former employees of Peace Foundation who travelled to Afghanistan to join ISIS-KP.

During our investigation, it was found that Eid Charity funded an organisation named Peace Education Centre. It is hard to ascertain the identity of this organisation, which almost received all the funds in the name of financial support to an orphanage. However, the only possible link could be with the Peace Education Foundation mentioned above, which runs several educational and charitable institutions for orphans. If Peace Education Foundation received money from Eid Charity, it would be the most direct evidence of Eid Charity funding organisations in India that are alleged to be involved in radicalisation activities.

Eid Charity’s second-largest reserve of funds to India is transferred in the name of Symposium Educational Charitable Society. This organisation received around USD 2.01 million, yet our investigation disclosed no traces of any organisation with such a name in the public domain. Following the transactions, it came into notice that the money was transferred for projects mainly in the Siddharthnagar district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. A large sum of this money was given to Al-Farooq Group based in the Itwa area of the district. This group is directly funded by Eid Charity and is known for its dismissive stand against Sufi Islam, which is widely practised in India. The Itwa area also harbours other organisations with foreign backing, propagating fundamentalist Wahhabi interpretations that are intolerant towards non-Wahhabi Muslim sects.

Another organisation named Al Safa Educational, Industrial and Islamic Charitable Society received funds from Eid Charity. Another controversial preacher runs it from Kerala, Maulana Sheikh Meraj Rabbani, who was also arrested in 2010 over hate speech against other Muslim sects, including Barelvis and Sufis. Rabbani was also amongst several radical preachers in Kerala whose speeches allegedly aided the radicalisation of ISIS recruits. Rabbani is also involved in a high-profile Heera Gold fraud case, where he is alleged to have urged people to invest in a Ponzi scheme.

Most interestingly, a large amount of Eid Charity money is transferred to Al Safa in the name of supporting the operation of the Salafi Charitable Trust mentioned above. It shows that money from Qatar is circulated within these Salafist organisations. Many groups may only exist to work as proxy organisations to escape the scrutiny of law enforcement agencies and tax regulatory bodies. This could also be true since other recipients in the Eid Charity list, such as Al-Habib Educational and Charitable Foundation and Relevance Charitable Foundation, are publicly ghost, and our investigation couldn’t find any traces of their existence. These groups may be shell organisations, the most common practice amongst institutions funding global extremism and radicalisation.

Sowing Seeds of Extremism

The whole investigation shows that this funding mechanism has evolved and acquired a sophisticated form over the last several years. The non-uniformity of transactional patterns makes it almost impossible to ascertain the actual purpose for these funds. The money comes under small heads for small-scale undertakings, which are extremely hard to trace and makes it almost impossible to link this money with any nefarious anti-national activity. Most of these organisations have almost no online and popular media presence. Our investigation also couldn’t find any public records of using these funds or any social media promotion of any of the projects, a standard practice of other mainstream charity groups.

Another major cause of concern is the financial support for certain organisations in Kerala. Over the past years, this southern state of India has become the hub of radicalisation and recruitment ground for several transnational extremist groups. Some organisations in Kerala have constantly been accused of supporting violent extremism, and several ISIS recruits from the state have been associated and radicalised through them. Banned Kerala-based Islamist terror groups such as the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and groups like Popular Front of India (PFI) have used hardcore teachings to radicalise youth and recruitment. The fact that raises alarm is that these transactions also match the period when radicalisation and extremist trends in Kerala acquired a steeper trajectory. India has a rich history of progressive Islamic practices for centuries, and an external targeted design promoting extremism could disrupt the social fabric and become problematic for India’s national integrity. The recent decision by Government of India to tighten the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) is a welcome step in this direction. However, much more comprehensive tracking of suspect organisations is needed at the grass-roots level. Indian security and strategic community need to build a holistic approach to eradicate such networks, including through extensive involvement of civil society. Authorities in Qatar need to be made aware that without their knowledge or involvement, the kingdom may follow Turkey and Pakistan on the FATF grey list, given the extensive international investigation into the doings of several of its citizens.

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The United States has reviewed and maintained the terrorist designations of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), along with ISIL Sinai Peninsula (ISIL-SP) and several other organisations. Days ahead of the transition of power, the U.S. Department of State said that it has amended the terrorist designations of LJ and ISIL-SP to include additional aliases.

Additionally, the Department of State has reviewed and maintained the Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) designations of LJ, ISIL-SP, LeT, Jaysh Rijal al-Tariq al Naqshabandi, Jama’atuAnsarulMuslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan (Ansaru), al-Nusrah Front, Continuity Irish Republican Army, and the National Liberation Army, a federal register notification published on January 14 said.

These organisations included Lashkar-eTayyiba, JayshRijal al-Tariq al Naqshabandi, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis-Sudan, Harakat ul Mujahidin, a lNusrah Front, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Continuity Irish Republican Army, and the National Liberation Army.

FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists designations seek to deny these terrorist organisations the resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks. Among other consequences of designations, all of the groups’ property and interests that are within the United States or that come within the United States or that come within the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them. In addition, as designated FTOs, it is a federal crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide, material support or resources to them.

LeT, which carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States in December 2001. Since the original designation occurred, LeT has repeatedly changed its name and created front organisations in an effort to avoid sanctions.

The treasury department earlier this month said that the U.S. blocked $342,000 in funds of LeT in 2019 as part of its crackdown on foreign terror organisations.

Shadow Over Pak’s Chances at FATF

The US State Department order came ahead of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in February, that was to assess the progress made by Pakistan to curb terror financing. The global watchdog did not seem to agree with Islamabad’s pitch that it was taking concrete steps to fix gaps in its laws to check terror financing and should be taken off the grey list. At the end of the last review in October, FATF president Marcus Pleyer cautioned that Pakistan could not take forever to deliver on its commitments and repeated failure to deliver would result in the country being put in the blacklist.

Pakistan was put in FATF’s grey list in 2018 after the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog pointed out failing to control terror financing and money laundering.

But Islamabad is yet to take any concrete action and the Pakistani deep state continues to support terrorist activities in India and Afghanistan. Over the last month, however, Pakistan has gone on an overdrive to impress the FATF.

Lakhvi Sentenced

On 7 January, a Pakistani court sentenced LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi to 15 years jail in a terror-financing case. Another judge issued arrest warrants for JeM chief Masood Azhar, who Pakistan has claimed for years was not in Pakistan.

The Pakistani anti-terrorism court found Lakhvi guilty under three sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act for running a dispensary to raise funds for terror financing. The judge gave Lakhvi separate five-year prison terms under each section, to be served concurrently.

The US has welcomed the conviction of Lakhvi on charges of terror financing but called on Pakistan to prosecute him for his role in masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Lakhvi was arrested soon after the carnage in Mumbai in November 2008 on charges of planning, supporting and financing the attacks in India’s financial hub that killed 166 people, including six American nationals. There has been little progress in Pakistan’s efforts to prosecute Lakhvi and six other accused in the Mumbai attacks case despite evidence provided by dozens of witnesses.

New Delhi has pointed out that neither of the two designated terrorists had been charged for terrorist acts. Pakistan’s “farcical actions” appeared to be aimed at an upcoming review by the FATF of the country’s efforts to counter terror financing, India’s external affairs ministry Anurag Srivastava said in response, pressing for “credible action” against Pakistan against terror groups.

Daniel Pearl’s Murderer Acquitted

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, tried on charges of kidnapping and beheading American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, was acquittal, on 28 January, by the Supreme Court. The acquittal was curiously timed, just days after President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office.

The White House expressed “outrage” over Pakistan S Supreme Court’s decision acquitting those involved in the sensational kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl in 2002 and said that the judgement is an “affront” to terrorism victims everywhere.

Pearl, the 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and beheaded while he was in Pakistan investigating a story in 2002 on the links between the country’s powerful spy agency ISI and al-Qaeda.

Pearl’s murder took place three years after Sheikh, along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, was released by India in 1999 and given safe passage to Afghanistan in exchange for the nearly 150 passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814. He was serving a prison term in India for kidnappings of Western tourists in the country.

White-washing for FATF’s Verdict

on 8 January, an Anti-Terrorism Court in Gujranwala in Pakistan issued an arrest warrant against JeM chief Masood Azhar, in a terror financing case. Azhar’s last location was said to be at a safe-house in Bahawalpur. The UN had, in May 2019, designated Azhar a “global terrorist” after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based JeM chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.

Thus far, Pakistan has cleared 21 of the 27 markers according to the FATF. The FATF plenary session in February decided that Pakistan would remain on the grey list, withholding its downgrading to the “blacklist” of sanctioned “high-risk” countries like Iran and North Korea.

The FATF’s last plenary, which had put off a decision on Pakistan for more than a year since its deadline in October 2019, had made a particular mention of the need for the Imran Khan government to prosecute UN designated persons, and demonstrate effective actions against them in court and freezing their assets.

Comments

Clearly, Pakistan cannot deal with terrorism, just as America’s neighbours Colombia and Mexico could not do so, when they had struggled to stop the supply of narcotics into the US, overwhelmed by drug cartels that had taken over their governments and judiciary. The fearless drug lords came to fear eventually when the most potent tool was deployed by the US against them, with the acquiescence of their governments – extradition to the US, to be tried and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in high-security prisons.

Pakistan, on the face of it, has ramped up its occasionally orchestrated pressure on terrorists. The sentencing of the operations commander of LeT, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who allegedly masterminded the Mumbai outrage (26 November 2008), to five years’ imprisonment, does not after 12 years readily inspire confidence to the east of the Radcliffe Line.

Nor for that matter does the anti-terrorism court’s order to arrest Masood Azhar by 18 January. He has been labelled by the United Nations as a “global terrorist”. Both have been charged with financing terror, though they must be held accountable for other insidious activities no less.

The government in Islamabad has been trying to evade the FATF black list. The Lahore court’s action comes at a crucial juncture, when Pakistan’s case was scheduled for review by the FATF. Pakistan’s placing on the “black list’ will signify another turning of the screw on Pakistan, rendering the country to a state of unsplendid isolation.

No one is convinced about Pakistan’s actions against any of the terrorist leaders. In India’s reckoning, it devolves on the international community to hold Pakistan to account and ensure that it takes credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and individuals.

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