Praveen Swami and Heena Fatima

New Delhi: Even as the multinational Financial Action Task Force (FATF) begins a meeting to consider removing Pakistan from a watchlist of countries that have failed to combat terrorism financing, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is expanding its sprawling Jama-e-Masjid Subhanallah and Sabir madrasa complex in Bahawalpur.

The organisation, two sources familiar with the group told ThePrint, has begun expanding the rear boundary wall across an estimated four acres of newly-acquired land in Bahawalpur, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The land, the sources said, was sold earlier this year to Abdul Rauf Ashgar, the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar Alvi. The sale was made by the family of Zahid Channar, the local nambardar, or hereditary village chief. The family has also sold land in the area to other private entities, including an apartment complex.

Musalman Bacchey, a children’s magazine published by the Jaish-e-Muhammad this month, and obtained by ThePrint, demonstrates how the estimated 600-plus students at the seminary are exhorted to support jihadism.

“When billions of dollars were being spent to wipe our jihad from the world, and thousands of TV, internet, and radio channels were spewing venom against jihad,” one article reads, “then Bahawalpur’s Jama Masjid Usman wa-ali was resonating with [an] invitation to jihad”.

Earlier this year, in the latest of a series of steps intended to secure removal from the FATF grey list, Islamabad had written to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, asking it to locate and arrest Masood Azhar. Pakistan also arrested several members of the Lashkar-e-Toiba on terrorism-related charges, including 26/11 perpetrator Sajid Mir. FATF monitors had then travelled to Pakistan, to verify the impact of these actions.

However, “in spite of whatever actions Pakistan has taken, the Jaish clearly remains able to raise significant funding,” said a senior Indian security official.

In May, United Nations Security Council monitors had reported that the Jaish “maintains eight training camps in Nangarhar, three of which are directly under Taliban control”.

To read full article: https://theprint.in/world/as-terror-watchdog-fatf-considers-reprieve-for-pakistan-jaish-e-mohammed-is-expanding-seminary/1174622/