S Asian states discuss ways to check terror financing

Officials from South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, have wrapped up talks on government action to stop terror financing of charitable institutions.
The three-day conference in New Delhi, which quietly ended yesterday, was held against the backdrop of growing international realisation that charities have been used for financing terrorist activities.
The aim of the conference was to promote government action to prevent terror groups from exploiting humanitarian and religious charities as a way to conceal illegal transactions of funds across the world, said a statement by the US Embassy, New Delhi.
Officials from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, the European Union and the United States attended the conference hosted by the US Embassy and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering.
The conference explored methods to prevent charitable sectors from funding terrorism and maintain donors' confidence in the integrity of charities.
Daniel Gasner, acting Assistant Secretary (terror financing) in the US Department of Treasury who had visited Delhi last month, said the US has identified charity and internet among some of the primary means used by various terrorist outfits for fund raising and money laundering.
”Charity is a primary means through which a terror organization raises funds…indeed, more charities have been designated for supporting terrorists than any other type of organization”, he added.
Gasner also said, “Charities represent a uniquely ideal vehicle not just to raise and move funds but to provide material support to violent extremist movements in the form of radicalisation, indoctrination and logistical cover and support”.