New Delhi, March 08: The United States has said that many
charities in Pakistan act as channels to fund terrorist
organisations, besides providing material support.
A senior official of the US Treasury Department looking
after terror financing said that large amounts of charity meant for
Pakistan based organisations is being moved through hawala
networks and hence is an "enormous" challenge to India and the
world as a whole.
"You know when you talk about Pakistan, the charities
that are there on the ground providing services guided by such
communities legitimising violent extremist movements. They are
very important for that," Acting Assistant Secretary
(Terrorist Financing) of US Department of the Treasury Daniel
Glaser said.
Glaser who was in the national capital recently, said that such
organisations move their money through alternate remittance
system or hawala and that is an "enormous, enormous challenge
to India and to all of us."
He said that it is beyond dispute that charities are a primary
means by which terrorists raise, move, and utilise funds.
"Most terrorist organisations openly advertise themselves
as charities. Charities represent a uniquely ideal vehicle not
just to raise and move funds, but to provide material support
to violent extremist movements in the form of radicalisation,
indoctrination and logistical cover and support," he said.
Glaser also said that terror groups may be investing in stock
markets like `every one else` to fund their nefarious
activities and could also be manipulating them though there
are not much evidence to suggest it.
He said that there have been discussions at various levels of
stock markets being manipulated by terrorists but he is yet to
see any evidence.
"There were lot of discussions about stock markets being
manipulated by terrorists. I don`t think there are lot of
evidence that it (manipulation) actually happens," he said.
Glaser added, "It is a pretty challenging thing to do, to
manipulate the markets. As you can see with everything going
on now, even the people who have very deep understanding of
the stock markets, sometime do not get it right. So I don`t
know how terrorists might actually successfully manipulate
stock markets."
He, however, said, "They (terrorists) must be investing
like everyone else."
When asked further on evidence of stock market
manipulations, he said, "I have not seen any, does not mean it
is not there but I have not seen anything" and added, "In a
way everything is possible but I have not seen evidence."
Incidentally, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had
in 2007 said that manipulation of stock exchanges is the new modus
operandi used by terrorist groups to raise funds for their
operations and fictitious companies have operated in the
Mumbai and Chennai stock exchanges.
Bureau Report
