India on Wednesday said that the terrorists have started using banks to finance their activities. "I'd like to apply for a loan, please!"
"Whaddya got for collateral?"
"How about this?"
"Holy shit! I mean, Allahu Akbar! If that thing goes off we're all goners!"
Minister for State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told the Rajya Sabha that while the ‘hawala’ system was the primary source of terrorist funding, banking channels are also emerging as “significant routes” for movement of money by these elements. “As per available reports, terrorists and terrorist organisations active in India are using different channels to fund their operations. They route their funds mainly through ‘hawala’ and other informal means,” he said, adding that the government was pursuing a multi-dimensional approach to deal with terrorist operations and supporting states to neutralise their activities. To a question on the recent observations of National Security Advisor MK Narayanan on the matter, Jaiswal said the NSA had recently recounted the methods adopted by terror outfits to generate funds and had pointed towards the reported “misuse” of the formal financial system by them. He said the revenue, security and law enforcement agencies were regularly sensitised to pursue an inter-agency approach to detect these channels and that the proposals relating to such sectors were referred to the Home and Defence Ministries for vetting from the security angle.