THE series of raids in Peshawar against money changers possibly involved in illegal hundi and hawala transactions is a welcome development.

However, far more effort is required to shut this business down. It is widely known that money changers deal in enormous amounts of cash on a daily basis, and dollars are literally auctioned on the streets in rapid makeshift markets that rise and disperse quickly.

The FIA has been active in the area for a while now, with some officials claiming that over 200 shops in the Chowk Yadgar area, where the money changers are located, have been sealed, 150 traders arrested and 126 cases filed.

The KP apex committee discussed the possible role of Peshawar-based currency dealers in terrorism financing back in November. Then in late December, a leaked report reflected the concerns of the law-enforcement agencies about how the informal market for currency exchange in this area is being used for terrorism financing.

On Thursday, the FIA in KP conducted another large raid in the area and arrested 45 dealers.

There appears to be a strengthened push to clamp down on illegal hundi and hawala operators in Peshawar. Some of these operators engage in money transactions so large that there have been occasions — admittedly rare though — where their dealings have been felt at the State Bank and have possibly impacted the exchange rate.

Turnover volumes in the Peshawar clearinghouse, where all paper instruments such as cheques and pay orders are processed, are also amongst the largest in the country, after the cities of Lahore and Karachi.

Such massive volumes of turnovers, in paper clearing and currency exchange, in the absence of any visible economic activity is grounds for suspicion that a portion of these is very likely linked to illegal business and possibly even terrorism financing.

But it will take far more than the heavy hand of the state, or even the apex committee, to bring this business into the full light of day. A larger policy response is needed to shut down the capillaries of terrorism financing, rather than relying on periodic crackdowns and criminal prosecutions alone.

The federal government needs to do more to coordinate the overall effort against this lethal funding to supplement the efforts of the KP apex committee. Thus far, going after this kind of financing is one of the weaker links in the implementation of the National Action Plan.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2016