Centuries ago, India’s statecraft wizard Chanakya had given trenchant advice, “Feed a little opium to your neighbour every day!” It is a precept that has been assiduously followed by cunning households and crafty empires.
In his opening remarks at the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held on July 4, 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Terrorism is a threat to regional and global peace. We will have to fight against terrorism… Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies and give shelter to terrorists. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such countries. SCO countries should condemn it. There should be no double standards on terrorism.” The prime minister discreetly refrained from naming any specific country, however, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was listening keenly.
Participating in the summit deliberations, also, were Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and other leaders of the SCO nations.
Terrorism and drug trafficking are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. Significant resources have been invested to counter narco-terrorism by governments across the world. The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is a comprehensive report prepared by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) using data from Terrorism Tracker and other sources. It analyses the impact of terrorism on 163 countries covering 99.7 percent of the world’s population. Some of the key findings from the Global Terrorism Index 2023 report are:
- Attacks have become more deadly with the lethality rising by 26 percent.
- Outside Afghanistan, terrorism deaths rose 4 percent in the rest of the world.
- Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates remained the world’s deadliest terrorist group in 2022 for the eighth consecutive year, with attacks in 21 countries.
- Terrorists are using more advanced technologies including drones, GPS systems and encrypted messaging services.
According to VOA News, Pakistan recorded the second largest increase in terrorism-related deaths worldwide in 2022, with the toll rising significantly to 643, a 120 percent rise from the 292 deaths in the previous year. The year saw Pakistan overtake Afghanistan as the country with the most terrorist attacks and deaths in South Asia, a position held by the latter since 2017.
While there is no unanimity among experts about the definition of terrorism, new terms and phrases are being coined such as ‘international terrorism’, ‘global terrorism’, ‘catastrophic terrorism’ thereby creating more confusion. All terrorist organisations operating in Pakistan are fundamentalist in nature, heavily armed, and groomed in perpetrating terrorist violence by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for operations inside Pakistan, while others are trained for creating violence and mayhem in Kashmir and Punjab in India. Both, the Sunni and Shia castes of Islam, use radical and antediluvian beliefs in their areas of operation and targets of violence.
Ironically, the Pakistan prime minister in his SCO address stated, “The hydra-headed monster of terrorism and extremism — whether committed by individuals, societies or states — must be fought with full vigour and conviction. Any temptation to use it as a cudgel for diplomatic point-scoring must be avoided under all circumstances.”
“Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including state terrorism, must be condemned in clear and unambiguous terms. There can be no justification for the killing of innocent people regardless of the cause or pretext,” the Pakistan PM added. Sharif also talked about the three evils of terrorism, extremism and separatism and urged the SCO countries to take concerted and immediate actions, both in their national and collective capacity, to combat them. However, he maintained a studied silence on the involvement of Pakistani terror groups and the role of the ISI in instigating terror in Kashmir and Punjab, on an everyday basis. He also avoided the subject of drones ferrying drugs and guns into Kashmir and Punjab, and also the terror training camps functioning unhindered inside Pakistan, and the cross-border movement of radical terrorists.
Just immediately preceding the SCO virtual meeting on July 4, 2023, the US and India had issued a joint statement on cross-border terrorism on June 27, 2023. In their joint statement, following one-on-one meetings and delegation-level talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden called on Pakistan to punish perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. Later, PM Modi in his address to the Joint Meeting of the US Congress said there can be “no ifs or buts” in dealing with terrorism and sought action against state sponsors of terrorism, in a veiled attack on Pakistan. He said that more than two decades after 9/11 and over a decade after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, radicalism and terrorism still remain a pressing danger for the whole world. The US pointed out that they have been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and their various front organisations.
Intricately connected with narcotics and terrorism is money laundering. Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in India was enacted following the United Nations Resolution to fight money laundering by various drug syndicates active across India. Subsequently, the UN included terrorism as coming under the purview of PMLA. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised serious concerns about the nexus between money laundering and terror financing. It holds that “Money laundering and terrorism financing activity in one country can have serious adverse effects across borders and even globally. Countries with weak or ineffective controls are especially attractive for money launderers and financiers of terrorism. These criminals seek to conceal their criminal activities by exploiting the complexity of the global financial system, the differences between national laws, and the speed at which money can cross borders.”
Transnational Criminal Organisations (TCOs) and terrorist organisations are involved in a range of criminal activities including narcotics trafficking, weapons smuggling, intellectual property rights infringement (IPR) fraud, human smuggling and trafficking, and environmental crime. TCOs and terrorist organisations adopt convoluted procedures to give a legitimate appearance to their illicit funds for personal use and the perpetuation of their illegal activities. Advances in international banking, the financial services industry and financial technology have simplified money laundering procedures.
The movement of illicit money very often traverses international borders and thereby enters the Customs domain, which is the “tip of the spear”, of every nation’s phalanx of enforcement agencies. The World Customs Organisation (WCO) established Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Terrorism Financing Programme (AML-CTF) in 2010. It also conducts operations to counter Bulk Currency Smuggling (BCS), gems/precious metals smuggling and trade-based money laundering. Project TENTACLE was established in 2019 as a multi-year counter-BCS and gems/precious metal smuggling operational effort. Project TENTACLE is a US Department of State – Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs project. Joining these initiatives are the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), INTERPOL, Egmont Group for Financial Intelligence Units, Europol, and other relevant bodies.
Despite such apparent international cooperation, there are many nations that seek to deceptively patronise drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, cross-border terrorism, and money laundering. Religious fundamentalism is a common cementing factor in all these crimes. Pakistan and China should realise that forums like SCO are not for exchanging pleasantries but for sincere cooperation and harmony among member States, to effectively tackle the spectre of narco-terrorism.
The author is IRS (Rtd), PhD (Narcotics), Former Director General, National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics (NACIN). Views expressed are personal.
