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Terrorist State Pakistan At The Helm Of Global Counter-Terrorism?
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Behind Pakistan's aid convoys & religious missions lies a murky war playbook where charities mask terror pipelines, cartels fund proxy wars and Kalashnikovs settle political scores
It's a bitter farce that played out in New York on June 4, 2025. Pakistan—a country notorious for nurturing global jihadist networks—is now leading the UN Security Council's Taliban Sanctions Committee and serving as vice-chair of the Counter-Terrorism Committee. This isn't irony—it's an indictment of the global system's moral collapse.
India has repeatedly warned the world that no other nation shelters more UN-designated terrorists than Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Taliban—these aren't rogue actors but state-sponsored proxies of Pakistan's military establishment in Rawalpindi. Even Osama bin Laden was found hiding in a military town. The world looked away then, and now it hands Pakistan a seat at the high table of counter-terrorism.
Terrorism in Pakistan isn't a bug—it's a feature. A strategic tool of its military and intelligence elite used to exert influence abroad and maintain control at home. The Pakistan Army is no longer just a national force; it operates like a transnational criminal syndicate, cloaked in uniform.
The real disgrace lies with the UN itself. Institutions meant to uphold peace are now enabling its destroyers. When Pakistan chairs counter-terror panels, the message is loud and clear: global justice is broken—and hypocrisy rules.
Pakistan's Sinister Money Laundering
A sinister pattern has taken root in South Asia. Whenever international aid flows into Pakistan, whether for disaster relief, economic recovery, or development, a predictable aftermath follows: a spike in terror activity orchestrated by Pakistan's military-protected proxy groups. Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and others under newer, welfare-like aliases resurface with renewed vigour. This is not an accident. It is a direct consequence of systemic financial laundering by Pakistan's military establishment, a process that diverts aid and investments into the bloodstream of jihad.
The international community continues to perceive Pakistan as a struggling, fragile state. But that narrative is dangerously obsolete. India must now recalibrate this global perception: Pakistan is not a fragile state—it is a militarised laundering syndicate that runs on global aid and converts it into bullets, bombs, and bloodshed.
The evidence is overwhelming. Pakistan's military controls a massive share of the country's economy—from real estate and banking to logistics and telecom. Entities like the Fauji Foundation, Army Welfare Trust, and Shaheen Foundation run vast commercial empires patronising terror under the pretence of 'welfare." These enterprises are tax-exempt, unaudited, and legally protected—yet operate like mafia fronts that channel resources into terror financing and elite enrichment.
The Money Trail of Death
1. Development Loans & Humanitarian Aid: IMF, World Bank, and bilateral loans are disbursed to 'private" contractors who are, in reality, military subsidiaries. These funds are then misused under classified budgets.
2. Real Estate and Shell Companies: High-ranking generals, both serving and retired, have parked fortunes in projects like Bahria Town and overseas properties in Dubai and London—many of them traceable to terror-linked revenue streams.
3. Hawala and Dual-Use Logistics: Informal money transfers used for remittances also move terror funds. These networks often overlap with military procurement routes, creating a seamless flow between aid, arms, and atrocity.
Between 2008 and 2024, credible estimates suggest over $600 million in international assistance was misappropriated by military-led networks. Pakistan has taken over $40 billion in IMF loans since 1958, yet no credible audit has ever accounted for the defence sector's spending. Meanwhile, over 150,000 civilians have been defrauded through military-linked real estate scams.
The Global Blindfold
The most alarming aspect of this saga is not just the crime—but the complicity. Despite warnings by FATF, Pakistan continues to receive aid. The IMF and World Bank release funds without mandating transparency from military accounts. China's Belt and Road Initiative has only deepened military control over Pakistan's economy through CPEC.
What we are witnessing is not a national military serving its people. It is a rogue syndicate that uses uniforms to legitimise crime, terrorism, and economic plunder. And it is enabled by global silence.
India must no longer rely on diplomatic briefs or appeals to morality. It needs a bold, structured doctrine to dismantle the financial lifelines of Pakistan's military-terror nexus. This doctrine must rest on seven interlinked strategic pillars:
1. Legal Warfare: Codify Financial Terror as Hybrid War
Just as cyber or chemical warfare is proscribed globally, financial subversion must be treated as a form of war. India must:
• Push for a UN resolution criminalising diversion of aid to armed groups.
• Lobby G20 and FATF to classify state-enabled terror funding as a war crime.
2. Financial Warfare: Cut the Aid Pipeline
Aid must come with strings—and surveillance. India must pressure donors to:
• Mandate end-use audits of all aid.
• Bar military-linked corporations from accessing aid-based contracts.
• Leverage sovereign credit agencies like Moody's to factor in terror financing risk when rating Pakistan.
India should advocate for blockchain-style transparent aid tracking systems, especially for multilateral loans and bilateral grants.
3. Expose and Name: Intelligence Diplomacy
India's enforcement and intelligence agencies must actively liaise with international financial regulators. But more importantly:
• Organise a Global Terror Finance Dossier Summit—inviting key nations from ASEAN, the Gulf, and the West.
• Publish exposés revealing the global real estate and financial holdings of Pakistan's generals.
• Target entities like JeM-affiliated charities in Canada or Dubai-based shell firms linked to retired ISI officers.
4. Narrative Dominance: Strategic Communication Warfare
India must convert facts into influence. A global storytelling offensive is needed:
• Digital campaigns using hashtags like #UniformedLoot or #TerrorByAid.
• Team up with respected think tanks like RAND, Chatham House, or Brookings to create unbiased, data-driven white papers.
• India must use forums like the UN, SCO, and BRICS, India to bring about a focus on terror radicalisation and funding by state machinery.
5. Indian Diaspora: Parliamentary Frontline
With a robust global diaspora, India has an untapped influence. Indian-origin legislators in Canada, the UK, the US, and Australia can:
• Introduce motions mandating full military audits in aid-recipient countries.
• Push for Magnitsky-style sanctions on Pakistani generals.
• Create dedicated parliamentary committees in India and abroad to monitor Pakistan's military economy.
6. Civil Society Mobilisation: Legal and Humanitarian Fronts
This is no longer a bilateral issue. India must partner with NGOs and international legal bodies to:
• File petitions with UNHRC detailing how Pakistan's military misuses aid to undermine civilian rights.
• Build strong relationships with countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, who've also been victims of terrorism.
7. Military Readiness: Hybrid War Countermeasures
Every time India reveals evidence of this connection, Pakistan fights back with small-scale attacks like breaking ceasefires, using drones to drop weapons, or launching terror attacks. To handle this, India needs to:
• Upgrade its hybrid warfare posture.
• Use AI and ISR to pre-empt digital disinformation and psychological warfare.
• Highlight the economic cost of Pakistan's militarism for regional development and stability.
The Real Threat: Global Complicity
The true danger lies not just in Pakistan's duplicity—but in the international system's hypocrisy. In pursuit of short-term geopolitical stability, donors, banks, and even media houses turn a blind eye to a militarised regime laundering blood money.
India must change that. It must make the cost of enabling Pakistan's military economy too high for the global system to ignore.
Conclusion: India's Moral and Strategic Imperative
The world must recognise the Pakistan Army not as a national institution, but as a transnational criminal syndicate in uniform—one that launders money, funds terror, and destabilises entire regions under the cover of diplomacy and development.
India now has a generational opportunity—to shift the global discourse, expose the financial foundations of terrorism, and dismantle the architecture of state-enabled jihad.
This is no longer about India versus Pakistan. It is about the future of a rules-based global order.
It is time to act—not with dossiers, but with disruption. Not with lament, but with lawfare. Not just with truth, but with the tools to enforce it.
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Because no terrorist grows without money. And no terror economy thrives without international indulgence. That indulgence must end—with India lighting the fire.
The author is former Director General, Mechanised Forces. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
tags :
Jaish-e-Mohammed Lashkar-e-Taiba pakistan Taliban terrorism UN Security Council
Location :
New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
June 05, 2025, 14:50 IST
News opinion Opinion | Terrorist State Pakistan At The Helm Of Global Counter-Terrorism?
