The cadre of the terror groups in Kashmir are resorting to looting banks and ATMs, with the money supply reaching them through hawala and Hurriyat leaders drying up as a long term impact of demonetisation. The cash crunch is getting compounded due to the subsequent action taken by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which further choked their finances.
As per the security agencies, there were four incidents of bank looting till November end in 2016.
However, in 2017, after demonetisation was announced, nine incidents of looting of cash from banks and seven incidents of the entire ATM being stolen have taken place in the last 10 months.
“The cash that the banks lost in these incidents in the last 10-11 months is close to Rs 1 crore. Cash is needed by these terror groups to take care of their cadre, to buy ration, arrange for guns and ammunition. Demonetisation hit them and later, we managed to choke a major part of their financial supply lines by arresting individuals and seizing bank accounts that were being used to fund these people. Now the terrorists are in dire straits and are not even able to manage basic commodity due to which they are being forced to take desperate steps. We intend to keep up the pressure till the last one of them is either killed or surrenders,” a senior officer with the security apparatus said.
Demonetization, which sucked out currency from the market and the system, followed by the agencies coming down hard on the hawala traders operating in Kashmir, has also led to a massive decrease in the incidents of stone pelting in the valley as a result of which more and more terrorists are being eliminated in encounters.
“Earlier, stone pelters would converge at the encounter site due to which terrorists would escape. Now that has stopped considerably as the stone-pelters are not receiving money anymore. No one wants to lose his life, limb or eye for the sake of gun-toting ‘jehadis’. We were always aware that once cash supply dries up, much of this ‘manufactured’ anger will cease to exist. We also gave a clear message to the people that if they interfere in the operations of our security forces, they will not be ‘spared’. That also helped,” the officer quoted above said.
“Most of the cadre involved in the loot is of the Hizbul Mujaheddin and Lashkar-e-Taiba and they are mostly targeting ATMs as they are relatively less secure and devoid of an armed guard. We have asked the bank officials to increase security around the ATMs and take other measures which cannot be made public,” the officer said.