Islamabad. Under the patronage of the current power and military leadership in Pakistan, terrorist organizations have now made charity, religion and humanitarian sentiments their new weapon to raise funds. A recent detailed report has shockingly revealed how banned terrorist organizations are changing their begging methods to escape global surveillance. These organizations are now active from streets to social media and are strengthening the roots of terrorism by begging for mercy from all over the world.
Experts say that Pakistan’s record in matters of terrorist funding and money laundering has always been questionable. Pakistan did many paperwork to mislead the international community, but did not take any concrete institutional steps to stop terrorist funding at the ground level. This is the reason why organizations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba are now openly operating on new platforms.
According to reports, Jaish-e-Mohammed has started using the Gaza crisis as an opportunity to raise funds. Jaish chief Masood Azhar has fielded his son Hammad Azhar as a modern beggar. Hammad is leading a campaign to collect funds for terrorist activities under the pretext of collecting relief aid in the name of Gaza. Due to fear of being caught, he is active on social media under the name ‘Kaiser Ahmed’, hiding his real identity and appealing to people to send money to digital wallet (Easypaisa) accounts registered in the name of ‘Khalid Ahmed’. The surprising thing is that he is using the videos of Gaza women to promote his charity so that huge amount of money can be recovered from Pakistan and Gulf countries.
Donation in the name of construction of mosques
Furthermore, Jaish-e-Mohammed has launched a massive donation campaign in the name of construction of more than 300 mosques within Pakistan. A target has been set to raise about 3.91 billion Pakistani rupees through digital wallets. The construction of these Markaz (centres) is allegedly being shown for religious purposes, but their actual use is suspected to be for spreading terrorist ideology and training. On the other hand, Lashkar-e-Taiba has also changed its strategy and has almost stopped using bank accounts. To avoid the grip of international agencies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), this organization is now directly resorting to digital wallets, which are difficult to keep track records of.
The report emphasizes that the ultimate goal of these terrorist organizations is not just to raise money, but to establish a radical ideology at the global level. This alms money collected in the name of humanitarian activities, mosques and war-affected areas is ultimately becoming a major threat to global security.
