Terror Economy in J&K

Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed terrorism since last few decades, which claimed the lives of many people, making the infants and hundreds of children as orphan.
The terrorism has simply wrecked havoc across Jammu and Kashmir, where people don’t only lost their lives, but the properties worth crores of rupees have got also destroyed in the last three decades. The terrorism has only added to the miseries of people across Jammu and Kashmir as it has worked as salt on the wounds of people.
The activities as well as the number of people involved in it are not declining and seem static for years together, thus leaving the people across the Union territory to lurch at large. Despite elapsing three decades, the terrorism still exists in Jammu and Kashmir due to the financial support it gets from across the border.
As the untoward incidents were impacting the normal economy of Jammu and Kashmir and left many people across the Union Territory towards starvation, but some of the people were quite happy with it as the terror economy used to get doubled for them to keep the situation boiling here.
Back in 2002, Strategic Analysis, a monthly journal of IDSA stated that Pakistan spends around Rs 24 crore to sustain terrorism in Kashmir.
This estimate has been made on the basis of the observation that even a large terrorist outfit like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) needs no more than US $6 to 8 million annually (Rs 30 to 40 crore). There are no more than 10-15 such outfits in the valley.
All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) is the largest beneficiary of foreign funds in the region. It was even reported that the then separatist leader Abdul Ghani Lone was threatened by one of the militant organization for misappropriating money given by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistani authorities for terrorist activities in the Valley.
These reports also said that another functionary of the APHC in Jammu had also made a similar accusation against his own colleagues in Kashmir and specified the amount misappropriated as US $16 million (Rupees 80 crore). A senior Huriyat leader, it is learnt, receives a sum of Rs 3,00,000 a month.
The terrorism financial supporters have been finding ways to send money for the people involved in it.
It has recently come to the fore that there are some people in Jammu and Kashmir, who are involved in sending the students to Pakistan for pursuing different courses for which they have been receiving a good amount.
Many times, the security forces including Army and especially the local police have seized drugs worth crores of rupees being transported from across the border to Jammu and Kashmir.
The drugs as per the security forces said that Pakistan is pushing a huge quantity of drugs into Jammu and Kashmir for funding terror here in a planned manner and getting our youths falling prey to the menace.
The government has taken series of steps in Jammu and Kashmir to eliminate terrorism front the ground. On the initial stage, the government blocked all the routes from Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir to ensure that the illegal transportation of weapons, drugs and other things is stopped.
The financial support to the terrorism in J&K was admitted in a sitting operation, conducted by national media, wherein a top separatist leader could be heard asking for Rs one crore to ensure unrest in Kashmir.
The action in this regard was taken by an investigating agency—National Investigation Agency (NIA), which was roped in to investigate the matter.
The agency has so far found the involvement of many people across Jammu and Kashmir in terror funding. The involved persons include separatist leaders, traders and many more.
One of the largest organizations, namely Jamaat-e-Islami, which is famous in J&K, has also been banned after the agency has found its involvement in terror funding case.
Since February 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed slump in terror financing as the investigation agency has arrested almost all those involved in the act. A number of raids were conducted by the investigation agency so far while several incriminating material have also been seized for further investigation.
In this regard, the government recently formed a State Investigation Agency (SIA) to investigate the matter further. It is hoped that as the activities have almost come to an end, the financing and all the means of it would also be eradicated very shortly.
(The writer is executive editor Lake City Times and can be reached at dedmariirfan@gmail.com)