Jaish-e-Mohammad recasts fundraising strategy amid rising international scrutiny

New Delhi: The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which is once again in the news due to the ongoing plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has been doing everything to cover its tracks when it comes to fundraising.

The JeM has massively reduced its reliance on the conventional style of fundraising, which involved charities and donations routed through hawala channels. Both the Indian and international agencies have been able to track the funding routes of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, and this has helped build pressure against the terror group on various platforms.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the JeM is fine with receiving smaller amounts of money now. It has intentionally kept transaction amounts lower to avoid detection. The amounts are smaller, and the transactions are spaced out, which helps the outfit enjoy a cooling period when the agencies are on their trail, the official said.

The big change in the funding model now is the route that the outfit takes.

The causes the JeM cites while raising funds are the same as earlier. The issues it raises while seeking funds include the Gaza and humanitarian crisis, the construction of mosques, among others. Earlier, the Jaish-e-Mohammad cadres would hold rallies or go door-to-door seeking these funds. Today, the issues that it cites to raise funds are the same, but it no longer does it openly, the official said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad is relying heavily on mobile payment platforms such as SadaPay and Easypaisa. Investigations show that some of the wallets where the funds come into are linked to Abdullah Azhar, the son of Jaish-e-Mohammad founder, Masood Azhar.

An official said that in addition to these mobile payment platforms, the outfit has also used the stable coin USDT to move funds. These funds are moved across channels linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad operatives.

What is making tracking harder, when compared to earlier times, is the discretion with which these elements are operating. Further, the Jaish-e-Mohammad does not indulge in regular transactions and has spaced them out. After the funds are collected, the payments are moved once every five to 10 days. This gives them a cooling period, and there is always a break in the chain for the investigating agencies who are tracking the money trail, the official said.

Another official said there is also another change that has been noticed when it comes to using these funds. The JeM is currently not spending on training cadres. It is also not routing money to fund operations. These aspects are taken care of by the ISI, which has set up a unified command centre to run operations of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The JeM collects money under the name of humanitarian aid and then sets up mosques and religious centres across the length and breadth of Pakistan. To the naked eye, these look like regular and legitimate buildings aimed at spreading religion. In reality, these are training centres that the JeM is setting up so that there is more access to youth across the country.

The outfit’s intention is to have a markaz and a mosque in almost every locality in the country, so that indoctrination and training could take place in the same place. This eliminates the need to travel to other parts of the country for training. Lesser travelling also means lesser tracking by the agencies. This, in fact, helps in covering the trail further. This is a big shift the JeM has made to evade international scrutiny.

These new tactics are making it extremely hard to track the funding activities of the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Moreover, the outfit keeps changing the platforms it used to receive and transfer funds. This adds another layer to the already tough job that the agencies have on their hand, an official said.

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