Krishnakanth asked: How do the terror groups fund themselves? How do they procure the ammunition & technology required?

Vivek Chadha replies: India faces different types of internal security threats. The groups involved raise funds from different sources ranging from state sponsorship, extortion and taxation, crime and smuggling, amongst others.

The militancy in J&K presents a classical case of state-sponsored and financed terrorism. The ISI employs state and private resources like drug money, donations and charities, as well as the globalised network for raising and moving funds from the Gulf countries. This support is further augmented by funding from the Kashmiri diaspora and NGOs. These are thereafter used as part of Pakistan’s proxy war against India, thereby bringing various components of finding together.

Most insurgencies of the Northeast receive funding from extortion and taxation, which is a local source. This is supplemented by trafficking of drugs, weapons and counterfeit currency. The insurgencies in the region have limited state-sponsored funding from outside and raising finances through private sources is the norm.

The case of CPI (Maoist) led insurgency is similar, with local financial resources providing bulk of its funding. There is as yet no substantive evidence of state sponsorship of the insurgency, nor have the insurgents profited substantially from the globalised financial environment.

However, in the case of Indian Mujahideen (IM), state sponsorship in the form of financial support from Pakistan, privatisation through criminal activities to raise funds and exploitation of globalised networks for moving financial resources, yet again brings the trinity together.

The groups then use the funds collected to smuggle weapons, explosives and technology based equipment like satellite radios, from across the border. India has porous borders with Nepal, which is exploited. Similarly, borders with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan are often used for pushing in weapons and ammunition.

Also, refer to the following:

http://idsa.in/askanexpert/fundingforHurriyatandseparatistgroupsinKashmir; and
http://idsa.in/askanexpert/Whatismeantbyhawalatransaction

Dushyant Singh,“Severing the Hawala Trail to and from India”, Journal of Defence Studies, 3 (4), October 2009.