Pakistan could not fool FATF with its half measures and last ditch efforts to come out of Grey List
By New Age Islam Special Correspondent
27 Feb, 2021
Despite all its diplomacy and last minute face
saving exercises, Pakistan could not come out of Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) 'Grey List'. The financial watchdog, after the end of its 4 day plenary decided to keep Pakistan in its 'Grey
List' implying that financial transactions of Pakistan will be closely
monitored. The FATF has given Pakistan time till June to fully implement all
the 27 recommendations till FATF's
June meeting in which Pakistan's fate will be decided.
The FATF said Pakistan had completely implemented 24 recommendations and had partly implemented 3.
FATF has put Pakistan in 'Grey List' since 2018 for its inability and lack of will to prevent money
laundering and terror funding. The FATF had asked Pakistan to take action
against designated terror organisations and terrorists of Pakistan but Pakistan
failed to comply. It was only in January 2021, that it took some half measures against
terrorists and terrorist organisations keeping in view the plenary of FATF to
be held from February 22, 2021. Pakistan arrested Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi in January.
A Pakistani court had sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and designated
terrorist Hafiz Sayeed last year to 35 years imprisonment. But that was also an eyewash
to hoodwink FATF because its parent body Jamat ud Dawah has always
enjoyed patronage of the Punjab government. In 2013, Shahbaz Sharif led Punjab government allocated JuD
Rs 61 million. It also issued a
tender for construction and repair work in JuD complex in Muridke.
New Age Islam had published a detailed report on it in 2013.
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Also Read: Proved: Lashkar-e-Taiba Is
Not A Non-State Actor But A Government Body of Pakistan
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Another designated terrorist Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammad
named by FATF was not arrested though Pakistan had acknowledged his presence in
Pakistan. A Pakistan court issued an arrest warrant against Masood Azhar in
January but the police did not arrest him. FATF could see through Pakistan's
unwillingness to arrest him.
Another factors that went against Pakistan was the
recent acquittal of Omar Shaikh, the prime accused in American journalist
Daniel Pearl's murder and Pakistan's diplomatic tussle with France, a powerful
member of FATF in the aftermath of Emmanuel Macron's 'Islam in crisis' remark
last year. Pakistan had denounced his remark in its National Assembly and
passed a resolution to recall its ambassador from France. It had also called
France's ambassador in Pakistan and registered its unhappiness over the remark
with him.
The fact is that Pakistan has used terrorism as a
state policy and therefore, it has sponsored terrorism against India and
Afghanistan. The statistics given by Pakistan itself speak of the enormity and
severity of the problem of terrorism in Pakistan. The statistics released by
Pakistan army says that 1,850 incidents of terrorism occurred in Pakistan from 2017 to 2021. The Army said that it conducted 375,000 operations during the last four years to reduce
urban terrorism under its special operation 'Raddul Fasad". Despite
all its big talk, the Pak Army could not arrest Masood Azhar. It arrested
Lakhvi only in January.
Pakistan officially banned Lashkar-e-Taiba
in 2002 but in practice, Lashkar-e-
Taiba leader Hafiz Sayeed moved freely in Pakistan, even participating in a
seminar in the office of a widely circulated Urdu daily of Pakistan after the
ban.
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During the plenary of FATF in Paris, human rights
activists, journalists, Pashtun and Uyghur activists protested outside
the FATF office in Paris demanding that Pakistan be put in the Black list for
promoting terrorism. Adil Qasim, the exiled Uyghur dissident, Fazal Rahman, Pashtun
Rights activist and other activists said that Pakistan and China have economic
friendship and use terrorism to kill Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other ethnic
minorities in their respective countries. They said that even if Pakistan
promulgates laws to curb terrorism, it will not implement them. They also
observed that the judiciary in Pakistan was working on the dictates of Pakistan
Army which sponsors terrorism.
Pakistan will have to take action against
terrorists and terrorist organisations active on its soil and wipe out
terrorism completely and it is possible only when it gives up using terrorism
as a tool of strategic depth.
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Also Read: Pakistan
Willing To Overlook Ties That Bind: Lashkar And The Global Jihad
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