Soumitra Singh is an engineer by his first degree (NIT Jaipur) an MBA professional by his second (IIM Kolkata) and a writer by his third (Bath Spa University). He has worked in the finance industry at the Bank of New York, Mellon and pursued research in Counter Terrorism Financing at a German think tank before returning to his first love: the written word
Apart from his beloved country, he has lived, worked and studied in Italy, the US, England and Germany. He loves to travel, write, and just generally create havoc wherever he goes.
From chess to Kashmir to London to money laundering to terrorism – you have chased a lot many subjects in your fiction to scan the architecture of terrorism in Kashmir?
Even during very young stage, I heard a lot about Kashmir – through friends, my parents and newspapers and news channels. Still we were ignorant of what actually was happening there. The scope of doing a book on the subject – as complex as the issue itself, was so massive that no one really want to know it – leave behind finding solutions to it.
Once I attempted to delve deep into the notion – and fantasized some kind of solution to the imbroglio. Things were not that simple – there was army, there was politics, religious sentiments, and various factions of separatist outfits. Most of them were burdened with history and I staunchly believe that as time progress that burden of history would fade.
However, I couldn’t come up with neatly summed up solution to the crisis of Kashmir. And through the book I attempt to explore various aspects of life in Kashmir valley – whether it is the daily life of Kashmiris or the politics of higher ups.
You tried to explain the entire gamut of problem happening there in the light of certain economic parameters – like money laundering – one of the major routes through which terrorism is financed
When I worked in the finance industry in New York – Bank of New York, Mellon, I was apprised of money laundering and lack of financial transparency in large corporations across the globe.
It was not easy to see initially but as I dug deeper I realized that this lack of financial transparency has far reaching consequences (everywhere and in every sphere of human endeavor – our daily lives, politics, economy, etc.) in how society works.
I realize that terrorism financing was made possible due to these opaque corporate houses.
This opacity enables tax evasion, laundering of dirty money including the money necessary to finance terrorism.
All this things, one realizes, are not disjointed rather they remain intricately linked with each other.
They are all connected and these are some of the connection I explored in the story.
You attempted to make a dry economic subject more palatable
I felt very strongly about terrorism financing and the lack of financial accountability that has made it possible. Once I zeroed in on making people aware of these issues. I realize that there was couple of ways I could go about it. I pursued research in counter finance terrorism at a German think tank and had a policy paper published on the subject.
But this policy paper which basically covered a very dry subject would only be read by academicians and researchers with technical expertise and interest in the field
The other way to go about it and to reach many more people was to write a fictional story which was based on reality and which covered these issues but presented itself to a far larger audience in a very palatable format.
What is real and what is fiction in TCOM?
TCOM is story of an audacious journey. In this journey we encounter several geographies and realities – and deal with various issues associated with that. Such as
Did the Hazratbal shrine incident happened in 1963?
Yes. It did
Did unit 22 a reality that appeared during sino- Tibet crisis.
Yes .
Were billions of Rupees ports in to the Siachin war?
Yes . They were.
Does the yellow head giant monk really exist?
I can’t Say.
So TCOM is based on contemporary realities and the lines of fiction blurs with present facts.
Opacity of offshore financial centres (OFCs) is a major reason for financial support to terror groups?
There are dozens of financial jurisdiction that exist around the globe with varied laws that control the flow of financial capital.
The OFC’s usually governed by laws are significantly different and set a structure which enables a lack of financial transparency that make a range of corporate crimes possible
Post 09/11, these OFC’s have come under scrutiny – and financial compliance norms have been stepped up. However, till today OFC’s are still used for money laundering and other financial misadventure, many of these covered in TCOM.
Misuse of OFCs
There are many ground realities; some of which people are aware of and others remain hidden. This OFCs have played and a large roll in enabling this issues to remain hidden.
