The Pakistan Government has more than doubled the funds for the terror infrastructure management on both sides of the line of Control (loC) during the last three years. While the funds for 2013-14 stood at Pakistani rupees 28 billion, it was jacked up to 48 billion Pak rupees in 2014-15. The figure for this year stands up to 62 billion Pak rupees.
The allocation is billed as the budget for POK. But in practice 70 per cent of it is used for terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir. Thirty per cent of the allocation is used for salaries of the POK Government officials and development of infrastructure like hospitals and transport.
These funds are routed by the federal Government to the Government in POK. In addition to this, the Government also funds about 25 per cent of budget to Pak Army for development and terrorist training purposes in POK, which, along with Northern Areas, has been declared at “disturbed area”.
The Pakistan Army transfers the fund for armed training of terrorists to religious trusts like Jamat-ud-Dawah and al-Rehmat Trust of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. The Pakistan Army also sends some of its personnel to these religious trusts. These Armymen are shown in the records as engaged in community service. But in reality, the regular Army provides arms training to the cadre of the jehadi outfits.
The state establishment in Islamabad has developed an elaborate mechanism for funding of the terror groups, their training infrastructure, cadre management and support to the families of the jehadis killed in action.
The Pakistan Government also indirectly funds the separatist groups in Jammu & Kashmir to the tune of Pakistani rupees 100 to 150 crore through a host of NGOs operating in the Valley as well as international voluntary organisations like Muslim Relief and Islamic Relief. Other mode of funding of the separatist groups is by sending Fake Indian Currency Notes to the Valley through Nepal.
The latest action in Uri, where the terrorists killed 17 Army men and injured another 30 others, is part of the new strategy Pakistan has put in place to scale up terror operations and upgrade the level of conflict in J&K.
Terror groups like the lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) with sophisticated operational calibre have been asked to carry terror actions in the Valley at regular interval. The Hijbul Mujahideen with relatively lower level of capabilities has been directed to expand operations to the hinterland and target airbases, especially in North India and also hit security forces.
While the Director General Military Operations clearly indicated the role of the JeM in the Uri attacks, inputs with the Intelligence agencies also confirmed the complicity of the outfit. Intelligence reports suggested that cadres of the JeM paid homage to the four fidayeen killed in Uri encounter at Bahawalpur where the terror outfits is headquartered. The JeM has so far not owned up responsibility for the attacks. The outfit boss Maulana Masood Azhar is likely to give a statement on Friday, sources said.
Counter-terrorism expert Dr Rituraj Mate said, “The theory of existence of two power centres in Pakistan is baseless as the narrative is clear in Islamabad when it comes to Kashmir and all the arms of the Government, Army, ISI and their affiliated terror groups are on the same page. The Government of India should deal with the Pak Government and Army with the same yardstick.”
He said India should take some action on the ground zero before a dialogue with the US on Pakistan is undertaken. While the US does not want a war between the India and Pakistan, Washington also does not want the Pak-sponsored terror to come to a halt, he added.