ISI pushes fronts to ramp up terror funding even as Pakistan tightens austerity measures

Pakistan has announced major austerity measures in the wake of rising economic challenges for both officials and people but several organisations have been told to increase fund collections to fund terror networks officials saidAn official said that austerity measures like major cuts to fuel usage and foreign travel and a ban on the procurement of new government vehicles have been announced for government officials while the people have also been directed to follow strict austerity measures in the wake of a mounting economic crisisOn the other hand collections to fund terror networks are being ramped up as terror outfits in Pakistan heavily rebuilding post Operation Sindoor are in desperate need of funds The operation carried out by the Indian armed forces to avenge the Pahalgam terror strike cost the ISI and its proxy terror outfits millions of Dollars in lossesPakistan primarily relies on front organisations classified state allocations criminal enterprises and also money allocated for defence spending to fund terror organisationsAn Intelligence Bureau official said that agencies such as the ISI have been instructing all these wings to ramp up fundraising that could be allotted to terror groups such as the JaisheMohammad and LashkareTaibaEven Pakistanrsquos defence spending has gone up considerably post Operation Sindoor but it is a wellknown fact that terror groups benefit from this indirectlyTerror groups are provided underground financing which comes out of the funds that have been allocated for the defence sector the official saidIn addition to this the classified state allocations to these terror groups have also been increased officials sayIntelligence reports had estimated that indirect statebacked channels funded around 125 million last year and this year the figure has been raised to 150 million Even the drug cartels that majorly contribute to terror funding have been instructed to increase their fundingThe criminal enterprise that comprises drug cartels money launderers and gangs that indulge in kidnapping and extortion contributed 70 million towards terror funding until last yearIntelligence agencies say that going by the meetings that have been held the criminal enterprises have been asked to ramp up the sum to at least 100 million this year for terror funding Another official said that even the front organisations such as the religious charities which usually contribute 200 million towards terror funding have been asked to increase their collections the official saidOfficials say that the agencies would keep a close watch on this new set of developments when it comes to terror funding It directly impacts India and if groups such as the LashkareTaiba and JaisheMohammad are well fed then terror activities especially in Jammu and Kashmir are likely to rise officials sayThe rampedup defence spending is another area of concern For years the military has diverted a good chunk of its allocation to arm terror groups This helps the military as these groups fight a proxy battle on their behalfThis year the defence allocation was raised from 16 per cent to 18 per cent For the current 202627 fiscal year Pakistanrsquos official defence budget stood at 101 trillion PKR or 108 billionOfficials say that a good part of it would be diverted to build terror infrastructureOn the other hand Pakistan has announced austerity measures for its government sector as well as the public The government has banned official dinners highlevel conferences and funded seminars Further Pakistan has also curbed national power consumption by instructing markets and shopping centres to close by 9 pm and restaurants by 11 pm Austerity measures on the one hand and an iron fist directive to all fronts to spruce up funding for terror groups only show Pakistanrsquos mindset and how important its proxies are to it an official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever