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News18
4 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Wanted Worldwide, VVIP In Pakistan: How Islamabad Protects These 7 Terrorists
Last Updated: Despite global terror listings and India's repeated warnings, Pakistan continues to shield 7 most-wanted terrorists, from Hafiz Saeed to Dawood Ibrahim. Despite repeated diplomatic calls from India and mounting evidence shared with global bodies like the United Nations and FATF (Financial Action Task Force), Pakistan continues to provide safe haven to some of the world's most wanted terrorists. From masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to underworld kingpins and terrorists operating across borders, these seven individuals remain free- brazenly protected, directly or indirectly, by Pakistan. Hafiz Saeed Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people and the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that killed over 200. He is also responsible for attacks on the Red Fort in 2000 and countless strikes across Kashmir. Despite being designated a global terrorist by the UN and US and facing a $10 million bounty, Hafiz Saeed lives comfortably in Lahore, often seen attending Friday prayers under armed police protection. In June 2025, Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Hafiz Saeed was under 'house arrest"- a claim India dismissed as eyewash. Pakistan's Lashkar HQ in Muridke was destroyed by India in Operation Sindoor. Masood Azhar Dawood Ibrahim India's most wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings that killed over 250 people. He heads the D-Company, a transnational crime syndicate involved in narco-terrorism, extortion and money laundering. Labelled a global terrorist by the US and UN, Dawood Ibrahim has a $25 million bounty. His Karachi address- House No. D-13, Clifton, Karachi- has appeared in multiple dossiers shared with Pakistan and the UN. Yet he continues to live with impunity under the protection of Pakistan's ISI and reportedly enjoys direct contact with elements of the military. Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi A top Lashkar commander, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was one of the primary handlers of the 10 Pakistani gunmen who carried out the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Captured gunman Ajmal Kasab named him as a key figure. Though briefly jailed under global pressure, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail in Pakistan and has since vanished from public record. He continues to enjoy military protection in Pakistan's Punjab province and his assets remain largely untouched. When Pakistan was on the FATF 'grey list', Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi faced limited sanctions but once that scrutiny faded, he reemerged with impunity. China has repeatedly blocked UN efforts to list him under global sanctions. Syed Salahuddin Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen Syed Salahuddin operates out of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where he frequently leads anti-India rallies, calling for jihad and threatening to turn Kashmir into a 'graveyard for Indian soldiers." The US State Department designated him a global terrorist in 2017. Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal The Bhatkal brothers- Riyaz and Iqbal- founded the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and have been behind a spate of bombings in Indian cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. While Iqbal is the operational head and bombmaker, Riyaz handles funding and logistics, with help from Gulf-based handlers and Pakistan's ISI. Both are currently believed to be living in Karachi, where they are said to operate sleeper cells in India through encrypted apps and hawala channels. view comments First Published: July 18, 2025, 21:18 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
NDTV
11-07-2025
- Business
- NDTV
How Are Pak Terrorists Moving Money? Hints From An FATF Report
The much-awaited report is out. The premier financial intelligence watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has just released its assessment of the terrorist financing risks and is not mincing its words. It talks about how terrorists use the most inventive methods to move money. A key takeaway, however, is this: those with state sponsorship have far more money and find it far easier to move it around. This is a vital report from the body. It underlines what many a counter-terrorism specialist will tell you, that terrorism is not all about spouting ideology and fistwaving. In the final analysis, it's about money, and a lot of it. FATF Has To Do Its Job For those not in the know, the FATF is an intergovernmental body formed in 1987 by the G-7 countries, the European Commission and eight others (who are curiously not listed), to combat money-laundering, including "terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction". This has nothing to do with morality, but with the fact that terrorist financing can include all manner of crimes, including human and narcotics trafficking, among other things; it can essentially infect the international banking system to the detriment of each state. The FATF does periodic reviews of each country. India joined in 2010, and in 2024, it got an 'outstanding' report for its financial stability and probity. The body, however, warned it against the use of 'non-profit' associations for terrorist financing. A number of NGOs were shut down, causing a hue and cry of 'illiberalism'. Pakistan, on the other hand, has been put on the 'grey list' several times, which means its financial systems have significant deficiencies. It was on the list in 2008, then in 2012, and then again in 2018 till 2022, during which period Islamabad sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi for five years Hafiz Saeed to 33 years in prison. The country also set in place the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which brought Pakistan's legal definition of terrorism up to international standards and aligned its laws with global norms on terrorist financing. However, Pakistan's clean-up is far from done. It has just gone deeper underground. Digital Routes This is, however, not just about Pakistan and its backing of jihadist groups. Sure, in a move that would have Rawalpindi in panic, the report names and shames the LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), as well as their so-called charitable arms. But it digs deep into the world of terrorist finance and warns that these actors have developed a 'persistent ability' to exploit the financial system of a majority of countries reviewed. The extent of the sophistication is apparent in the use of digital platforms like social media messaging apps and crowdfunding sites. Then there are shell companies, legal companies, and even trusts. But here's the clincher. Terrorist financing is most effective when they control territory or are proximate to terrorist areas. That means taxes, diversion of humanitarian aid and access to natural resources. The Thing About State Sponsorship The key point in the document is that it flags, for the first time, state-sponsored terrorism, though it admits it has not yet developed a typology for this. It refers to reports of states helping designated terrorist groups to circumvent sanctions regimes, and interestingly notes, "When an organisation is not designated at the multilateral level, it is more likely to engage in financial activities, including fundraising". That's one in the jaw for those analysts who wonder why we bother to get designations at the United Nations, a body largely seen as toothless. Sanctions are powerful instruments, if imposed strongly. True, Pakistan is not explicitly named, but the very recognition of this issue is vital for Indian investigators and diplomats. The report notes significantly that donations are coordinated through encrypted mobile communications, money services businesses, cash, or in virtual assets. In short, they "demonstrated remarkable adaptability" to beat the system. In addition, there is "an enhanced focus on technology and communications, with increased investment in secure communications devices, software, and cybersecurity measures". Now think about that in terms of Pahalgam, where the communications gear - the so-called 'ultra-sets' - operated only on radio waves. No wonder a trail was difficult to find. Moving The Money There's another frightening observation. Networked organisations such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda rely on regional entities for moving funds. That includes the AQIS (al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent), which, just after India's Operation Sindoor, called upon all Muslims in India to launch a jihad. That's strange in itself, since the group was last heard of operating out of Assam in 2022 in conjunction with Bangladeshi groups. That's networking across three international borders. Then there are the Islamic State's 'offices' such as the Maktab al Siddiq, which move funds through India and Bangladesh, among others, in hawala transactions. No, hawaladars are no longer handling greasy notes. Many, including in Afghanistan, are using cryptocurrency. The hawala trail itself has been replicated into a blockchain-based pseudo-anonymous transfer system, where a new user has to be vetted before they fit into the system, making it virtually impossible for an investigator to penetrate it. It's like a vast spider's web. Techno Parks for Terror Apart from all of the above, some unusual features have been identified. Terrorists now also bank on monetisation of social media platforms like Zoom or YouTube. There's also 'X', which provides services for its 'blue tick', and which, in turn, allows users to 'tip' other accounts using various payment methods. Research has found blue-ticked accounts tied to sanctioned entities and individuals. Then there's YouTube's 'Super chat' feature, which allows viewers to purchase highlighted messages in live streams. Easy to support your favourite jihadi even while increasing their visibility. There are prepaid cards, pre-loaded, allowing easy transfer, and 'open loop' cards, which means money can be drawn across the world. It's enough to make an investigator cry into his coffee. Following The Trail However, investigators in Pakistan are particularly astute. One example cited in the FATF report is the evidence from a car bomb attack that was claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The investigation involved tracing the owner of the car. which led to the authorities finding out that the person reactivated a dormant bank account, conducted some three transactions for large amounts, and then closed it entirely. Pakistan's Financial Monitoring Unit identified foreign remittances as well, and eventually arrested the lot. The point is, Pakistan can do a good job when it wants to. But in the Pulwama attack of 2019, it didn't despite being given a chance. The report notes flatly how the investigations back then "revealed the cross-border movement of a large quantity of explosives into India". Notably, a key component of the improvised explosive device used in the attack - aluminium powder - was procured through Amazon. So, e-commerce sites are another area that could be misused. That's damning enough, though the FATF also notes how the authorities concluded' that the attack was by the JeM. Today's Terrorism Is Complicated Everything considered, this is a report that portrays the extent of the challenge security agencies face in preventing terrorism in the first place, and, in the second, grappling with the ensuing 'whodunnit'. It's virtually impossible to trace everything, and terrorist sponsors know it. The immediate danger for New Delhi is the fact outlined clearly by the FATF: that the individual terrorist, inspired by a deluge of online propaganda, needs very little money to go ahead and hit its target. The Gokarnath temple attacker was arrested after some 44 international third-party transactions were found through forensic analysis of his phone. Today's terrorists have gone far beyond that. Ultimately, the burden of finding proof has become an even bigger task, as also convincing some world leaders who often offer to 'mediate'. In the end, there is only one solution: the terrorist sponsor has to be shut down in its entirety. Forget the web, just smash the spider.
The Hindu
26-06-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Can India push Pakistan into FATF's ‘Grey list'?
Story so far: In a rare show of condemnation, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), on June 16, 2025, stated that the Pahalgam terror 'could not occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters'. FATF's has released such a statement only twice in this decade -- for the Paris terror attack (2015) and the Pulwama attack (2019). The terror watchdog's stern stance has given hope for India to push its case to bring Pakistan back into the 'grey list' for violating the FATF's policy on terror-funding. Also Read: The lists of the FATF and Pakistan's position Apart from condemnation, FATF will release a report next month, which will include state-sponsorship as a separate source of funding for terror. The Hindu reported that the FATF has also developed a Terror Financing Risk & Context toolkit for assessors, so that countries cannot 'fool them with lies' on terror financing risks from their jurisdictions. Pakistan has been placed 'thrice' in the 'grey' list of the FATF after it failed to take adequate measures to curb terror financing and money laundering. FATF first placed Pakistan on the grey list in 2008 after it failed to fight terror financing and money laundering. After cooperating with FATF's mutual evaluations, Pakistan was given an action plan to stop criminalisation of money laundering, identify, freeze and confiscate terrorist assets. It was removed from the list in 2015 owing to its progress but was reinstated in 2018. Failing to fulfill the first FATF plan, Pakistan was prescribed another seven-point action plan. While it completed 32 of the total 34 action items in the two plans in 2021, Pakistan was retained in the grey list. In October 2022, the country was finally removed from the list after it fulfilled all 34 action items by passing laws tackling money laundering, terror-financing, maintaining a database of terrorists and terror groups, and convicting terrorists such as Hafiz Saeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Sajid Mir, and Rauf Asghar. However, Islamabad claims it couldn't trace Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, a UN designated terrorist, and the mastermind of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. How will FATF's condemnation affect Pakistan? 'FATF has very rarely condemned terror killings. It is only when it is an attack of high intensity or highly political in nature that it has come out and condemned it. However, there are limitations to it. The funding trail has to be established, which is being done by the Government of India, via diplomacy and parliamentary delegations. Maybe the FATF's condemnation, though late, has come out after conversations with these delegations,' says Dr. Manish Dabhade, Assistant Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's Centre for International Politics, Organisation & Disarmament. Aishwaria Sonavane, Geopolitical Analyst at The Takshashila Institution, says that FATF's statement strengthens India's case against Pakistan to the global community, but is unlikely to translate into any meaningful action. 'While India may sort of leverage FATF condemnation, isolating Pakistan diplomatically is far-fetched,' says Ms. Sonavane. Putting Pakistan in the 'Grey' list alone will not suffice, says Mr. Dabhade, stating that this will not put economic sanctions on Islamabad. 'Only when they are in the black list will it negatively affect Pakistan. In the grey list the FATF only names and shames the country, so when investors i.e. FDIs flow into Pakistan, they will be acknowledging the risk involved. But when it is in the black list, it is about actually taking steps which will affect investments into Pakistan,' suggests Dr. Dabhade. Can India 'push' Pakistan back into 'Grey' List? In the wake of Operation Sindoor, Mr. Modi warned Pakistan, 'Talks and terror cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and water and blood (referring to the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty) cannot go together. India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail.' The current political climate makes it highly unlikely for Pakistan to be pushed into the 'Grey' list. 'The process is a political one. Depending on what sort of member states' support India can garner at the FATF plenary session which will be held in October, what sort of dossiers and financial trails India can establish, it will decide if it is a clear cut case for Pakistan to be put back in the 'Grey' list,' says Mr. Dabhade. He adds that India would have to spend its political capital abroad with the 30–odd countries who will decide on the case. The seven all-party delegations sent by India after the Pahalgam terror attack and India's response, covered about half of the FATF member states. Explaining how stakeholders like China and the US are unlikely to support any punitive action on Pakistan, Ms. Sonavane says, 'Beijing has its stakes in Islamabad with its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. They have time and again supported Pakistan on international platforms. The recent optics also suggest that Pakistan does retain strategic significance for Washington'. Can FATF's new 'toolkit' call Pakistan's bluff? Both experts don't think the Terror Financing Risk & Context toolkit could deter Pakistan. 'It feels like a cosmetic eyewash. Though India can definitely utilise these tools to advance its narrative, and present evidence before the international community as much as possible. Grey-listing will risk Pakistan's economy, which will have a destabilising effect in Afghanistan. This is something that the US cannot afford to do,' they observe. Who does the current political climate favour? On June 19, US President Donald Trump hosted Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir for lunch at the White House and thanked him for 'not going to war with India'. The unprecedented hosting of an Army chief rather than the Head of the State by a US President has raised eyebrows in India. 'It is a big bump for India-US ties under Trump, seeing that it was Prime Minister Modi who met Trump earlier in his Presidency, which indicated that things would smoothen out and that they were clinching a trade deal. But in the long term, we (India) know that there are going to allies like US and Israel that are going to be there sometimes and not at other times. We have to make the best use of whatever military equipment we have bought and know that in this fight (with Pakistan) we are own,' opines Mr. Dabhade. Drawing parallels to the post-26/11 period, he adds, 'India was shouting from the rooftops about how we were being affected by cross-border terrorism. While everyone accepted our concerns, they (global powers) said 'talk about Kashmir' and that has what the case has been reverted to now – the hyphenation of India and Pakistan'. However, Ms. Sonavane plays down the impact of the Trump-Munir lunch on India. 'There are no surprises that the Pakistani military is strategically important to the US. The Trump-Munir lunch had less to do with India and more with regards to Iran and Afghanistan. Pakistan is seeking to appease the Trump administration in many ways. It is opening up to Bitcoin mining, which has ties to the Trump family,' she says, adding that India-US ties will continue to grow in its own irrespective of the Pakistan factor.
Hindustan Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
FATF's Pak challenge: Tracing routes of funds
At one level it seems like a huge win for India. At least one major body has focused on the Pahalgam terror attack rather than the operation that followed it, and ensuing calls for restraint. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the foremost authority on money laundering and terrorist finance, has not just condemned the terror attack, but, last week, resolved to launch a probe noting that it could not have been carried out 'without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters'. Unlike various groups asking for proof of who did the attack, the FATF proposes to find it for itself. The Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 security personnel happened even as Islamabad was threatened with blacklisting. (Waseem Andrabi/HT) The FATF was formed in 1989 by the G-7 countries, the European Commission and eight others (who are not listed), to combat money laundering, including 'terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction'. Over the years, it steadily increased its mandate to include all manner of actors including narcotics networks. India joined in 2010, after a rigorous examination of its banking systems, a review which happens periodically to protect the global system from danger. In 2024, India again got an 'outstanding' report for its financial stability and probity, though the FATF warned about 'non-profit' associations being used for terrorist finance. A number of NGOs were shut down, causing a cry of illiberalism. Pakistan, on the other hand, was put on a 'grey list', which means its financial systems have significant deficiencies, three times: Once in 2008, and taken off the list in two years after some improvements; again in 2012 for not curbing terrorist financing among other things; and again in 2018 for the same reason. This time it kept it there until October 2022, during which period Islamabad sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi to five years imprisonment, Hafiz Saeed to 33 years in jail, and set in place legislation including an Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which updated the legal definition of terrorism to international standards. A legislation was introduced to bring Pakistan's laws in line with the UN laws on terrorist financing, 20 years after Resolution 1373 had been enacted, and further gave the State Bank of Pakistan a degree of autonomy to implement much of this. That was when Imran Khan was in office, against an Opposition which feared their large unaccounted funds would come under scrutiny. Khan, who had a clean record on corruption, warned that going onto the 'black list' would mean an economic crash. A country on the black list is sealed off from the rest of the world in financial terms and faces serious difficulties in securing loans. At that time, Pakistan's external debt was 37.6% of GDP! But terrorism did not stop. The Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 security personnel happened even as Islamabad was threatened with blacklisting. It paused after India retaliated with air strikes deep inside Pakistan for the first time. Subsequently, government reports showed a significant drop in infiltration attempts from 216 incidents in 2019 to 53 in 2022 (according to MHA reports). But terrorist tactics simply shifted. Narcotics trafficking long associated with terrorism in Punjab returned. According to reports, some 251 transborder sorties by drones brought in weapons and drugs, this time mostly methamphetamine and derivatives from Lahore, even as underground tunnels were spotted along the international border. Second, terrorist groups became smaller in size but better trained and equipped. The personnel could live off the land for months in thick forests and were equipped with phones that evaded mobile towers. Then Pahalgam happened. As the FATF swoops in, two things matter. The first is whether our forces have managed to crack the communication system of terror groups to trace the source areas. That is vital. Second, Pakistan, despite the Taliban's crackdown on opium cultivation, seems to be able to access vast amounts of meth, as seen in the 300-kg seizure in April 2025 off the Gujarat coast. Pakistan also has money to continuously raise not just its defence budget — now far above the mandated 1.9% of its GDP when pensions are included — but also the pay of parliamentarians (by 138%) and defence personnel. Then, the FATF has to examine how Chinese funds are coming in to support the army, since none of it is evident in the budget papers. The FATF may also find other sources of financing, from outside the country. The sum of all this is to find out why Pakistan doesn't seem to care even if access to international financial assistance, crucial for it, is cut off. If Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's call for peace has some basis, he could start by emulating Indian initiatives like linking national identity cards with bank accounts, use its very capable investigative agencies to root out terrorist accounts, and those of 'charitable' organisations such as the highly suspect Al Khidmat Foundation. The army will, of course, oppose this. But major financial institutions must back the politicians, by linking aid with democracy. Otherwise nothing at all will move forward. Meanwhile, India had better look at hawala networks at home. Money has no nationality and no morals, and it could be used by hostile agencies as well. Time to get cracking for our own interests. Meanwhile, the Sharifs might actually find the going easier as terrorists are curtailed, and the army's powers with it. Tara Kartha is director (research), Centre for Land Warfare Studies. The views expressed are personal.
Hindustan Times
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
The roots of terror funding
For far too long, western powers and multilateral bodies have been found wanting in their efforts to ensure that Pakistan takes credible and irreversible action to prevent terrorist groups from functioning from its soil or raising funds for their activities across the region. This has included nations such as the US and its partners that have been directly affected by Pakistan-based terror groups. While Pakistan has been pushed to act against organisations and individuals — many of them sanctioned by the UN Security Council (UNSC) — after major terror attacks, Islamabad's crackdowns were invariably wound up once international focus receded. As a result, terrorists such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi have never been held to account for assaults such as the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)'s contention that an attack like the Pahalgam massacre cannot 'occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters' is significant in this context. India has made its case with bodies such as FATF and the UNSC's al-Qaeda-related sanctions committee about the need for renewed action against Pakistan-based terror groups — particularly the LeT and its front organisation, The Resistance Front, that was linked to the Pahalgam attack. FATF is correct in noting that the strategic use of financial intelligence is one of the most powerful instruments for dismantling terror financing networks. It is also correct in saying that no country or agency can single-handedly end terrorism. Over the years, India and its counter-terrorism partners have built a vast repository of intelligence on funding of Pakistan-based terror groups and their ability to exploit loopholes in Pakistan's measures against terror financing and money laundering. The Pahalgam attack has become a trigger for India and its partners to consider a fresh move to get FATF to put Pakistan on its so-called 'grey list', which will lead to greater scrutiny of all its financial transactions. (Pakistan was on the FATF 'grey list' between 2018 and 2022). Sure, FATF, a technical body, has grown wary of allegations about its politicisation, but it should not be too difficult for India and its partners to present a fool-proof case against Pakistan. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other agencies too must take note and put Pakistan on notice for any possible diversion of their aid to sources that enable the strengthening of terrorist forces.
