How terrorists beat demonetisation with ease

With Intelligence Bureau officials warning that bank loots could go up, a decision to enhance central security would also have to be taken.

In the past 48 hours there have been three incidents of banks being looted in the Kashmir valley. Rs 3 lakh was looted at a bank in Kakapora, South Kashmir. This was the second incident in two hours after masked men looted Rs 5 lakh from a bank in the Wahibugh district.

On Tuesday another incident was reported at the Ellaquai Dahati Bank and took away Rs 65,000. On May 1, terrorists attacked a cash van of the J&K bank and killed five policemen at Kulgam in south Kashmir.

It is clear that the terrorists are in need of cash and what better way to raise funds after the decision on demonetisation was announced. Terrorists and their funders took a hard beating after the decision on demonetisation was made on November 8. With hawala routes and operatives too taking the hit and with the fake currency market going bust, terrorists decided that they would raise funds by looting banks.

Beating demonetisation with ease:

Investigations have shown that the two most active groups in the Valley-Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba are behind the bank robberies. They were falling short of money. It acted as a two edged sword for these terrorists. One is that they raise funds and secondly hitting a bank is symbolic considering it is such a key establishment.

With Intelligence Bureau officials warning that bank loots could go up, a decision to enhance central security would also have to be taken. This would mean deploying more central forces at the banks. Security would have to be provided for nearly 1,500 banks across the Valley. The central forces are already burdened with maintaining law and order on the streets of Kashmir.

With the number of bank robberies on the rise, it may force people to keep money at home. Terrorists would have an advantage in such an event. If large chunks of cash are kept at home, then they could loot easily. Moreover if money stops reaching the banks, the economy suffers and this serves the agenda of terrorist groups as well.

OneIndia News