Pakistan Must Take Sustained And Irreversible Action Against Terrorism To Come Out Of The Grey List
By Ajit Kumar Singh
October 26,
2020
Marcus
Pleyer, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President, at a virtual press
conference held on October 23, 2020,
after the three-day (October 21-23) virtual Plenary meet, declared,
“Pakistan remains on our increased monitoring list [Jurisdictions under
Increased Monitoring], the so-called gray list.” He stated that FATF would
consider sending its team for an “on-site visit” to Pakistan, once it completes
all 27 items of its action plan, to review progress and determine whether to
remove the country from the ‘grey-list’ or not. He, however, pointed out, that
there was "another process going on in the Asian Pacific Group [APG]"
where Pakistan's case is being evaluated.
When asked
if Pakistan still faces the risk of being moved to the FATF’s High-Risk
Jurisdictions or ‘black-list’, he stated that though Pakistan has “now
completed 21 of 27 items of its action plan... the six outstanding items are
very serious deficiencies that still have to be repaired” and Pakistan
consequently still faced the risk of being moved to the ‘black-list’.
Meanwhile,
in a release on October 23, 2020, FATF, stated, that "as all action plan
deadlines have expired, the FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete
its full action plan by February 2021". In the release it asked Pakistan to
…continue to work on implementing its action
plan to address its strategic deficiencies, including by: (1) demonstrating
that law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest
range of TF [terrorist financing] activity and that TF investigations and
prosecutions target designated persons and entities, and those acting on behalf
or at the direction of the designated persons or entities; (2) demonstrating
that TF prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive
sanctions; (3) demonstrating effective implementation of targeted financial
sanctions against all 1267 and 1373 designated terrorists and those acting for
or on their behalf, preventing the raising and moving of funds including in
relation to NPOs [Non-Profit Organisations], identifying and freezing assets
(movable and immovable), and prohibiting access to funds and financial
services; and (4) demonstrating enforcement against TFS [Targeted Financial
Sanctions] violations, including in relation to NPOs, of administrative and
criminal penalties and provincial and federal authorities cooperating on
enforcement cases.
Earlier, on
September 30, 2020, the APG released its 1st
Follow Up Report (FUR) on Pakistan’s
Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) adopted in October 2019. According to the
FUR, out of 40 FATF recommendations, Pakistan was found non-complaint on four recommendations,
partially complaint on 25, largely compliant on nine, and compliant on only two
recommendations. There are four possible levels of technical compliance:
compliant, largely compliant, partially compliant and non-compliant.
The Report
at the end concluded,
The Pakistan FUR was adopted out-of-session by
the APG membership in August 2020. In keeping with APG third round procedures,
Pakistan will remain in enhanced (expedited) follow-up, and will continue to
report back to the APG on progress to strengthen its implementation of AML/CFT
[Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism] measures.
There are
three categories of follow-up based on mutual evaluation reports: regular,
enhanced and enhanced (expedited).
In the MER
2019, which provides a summary of the AML/CFT measures in place in Pakistan at
the date of the on-site visit in October 2018 (October 8 to 19), Pakistan was
found non-complaint on four recommendations, partially complaint on 26, largely
compliant on nine, and compliant on only one recommendation.
In the
meantime, Pakistan made several last-minute attempts to come out of the
‘grey-list’. A total of eight Bills were
passed to meet the FATF demand. These include: the Islamabad Capital Territory
Waqf Properties Bill, 2020; the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill,
2020; and the Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill 2020; on September 16, 2020; the Limited Liability
Partnership (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2020, on
August 20, 2020; the Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matter) Bill, 2020, on
August 6, 2020; the United Nations Security Council Amendment Bill, 2020 and
the Anti-Terrorism Act Amendment Bill, 2020, on July 30. Pakistan Foreign
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on July 26, 2020, had said that that the
Government has prepared eight bills for legislation on anti-money laundering
and terror financing with a view for Islamabad to move out from the FATF’s
‘grey-list’.
On
September 16, Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem confirmed that Pakistan had
“completed all FATF-related legislation before the deadline… There were no more
amendments required for now.” He added that Pakistan would pass new laws or
further amend the existing ones if required in future.
Further,
the Parliament was informed on September 16 that the Provincial Home
Departments have frozen the 964 properties of proscribed organizations under
United Nations Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019, issued by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These included a total of 611 properties of
the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)/Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) and eight of
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Punjab; 108 of JuD/FIF and 29 of JeM in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa; 80 of JuD/FIF and three of JeM in Sindh and 30 of JUD/FIF and one of
JeM in Balochistan; 17 of JuD/FIF and four of JeM in Islamabad Capital
Territory; and 61 of JuD/FIF and 12 of JeM in Pakistan occupied Jammu and
Kashmir.
On August
18, 2020, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two Statutory
Regulatory Orders to enforce UN Security Council sanctions against hundreds of
terrorists, including those of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), JeM, Al-Qaeda,
Taliban, Haqqani Network and Islamic State, as well as 93 terrorist groups and
entities. The First Statutory Regulatory order listed 88 entities, including
terrorist groups. It also included JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, JeM chief Masood
Azhar, and Dawood Ibrahim in their individual capacities. The second
notification listed prominent Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders such as Mullah
Abdul Ghani Baradar, Siraj Haqqani, Bakht Gul and Sher Mohammad Abbas
Stanekzai. The two notifications ratified the UN Security’s Council’s call for
freezing the assets of the terrorist individuals and terror entities, banning
the travel of the terrorist individuals and ensuring that they cannot access
any weapons, ammunition and military equipment.
Interestingly,
however, a Taliban delegation led by Baradar was invited by Pakistan for talks
on August 24, 2020. When it was reported widely that Pakistan has enforced new
sanctions, the Foreign Office on August 22, 2020, responded that no new
sanctions had been imposed on the individuals and outfits under the two
Statutory Regulatory Orders of August 18. The Foreign Office spokesperson, in a
clarification argued, “Comprehensive SROs [statutory regulatory orders] are
issued from time to time as per routine. Such SROs have been issued in the past
to meet global obligations. The last SRO was issued in 2019.” He, however, did
not explain why the earlier statutory regulatory orders were not uploaded on
the Ministry’s website then, while the August 18, 2020, was uploaded just after
its release. Reports indicate that all earlier Statutory Regulatory Orders were
uploaded in 2020, clearly establishing the fact that Pakistan is doing all that
is possible to formally comply with FATF’s requirements to come out of the
‘grey list’, but is evading any real changes in the freedom of operation it
provides to designated terrorist formations and individuals.
Pakistan’s
formal compliance is clearly superficial and FATF is rightly of the opinion
that Pakistan needs to do much more to
deal with “very serious deficiencies”.
While
Pakistan has taken strong measures against domestically-oriented terrorist
groups such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), it remains a safe haven for
terrorist groupings threatening world peace, particularly groups which are
directed against India and Afghanistan in what are essentially Pakistan
state-backed proxy wars. These terrorist formations continue to enjoy the open
support of the Pakistani establishment.
The Inter
Service Intelligence’s (ISI)’s direct and present link with Syed Salahuddin,
‘chairman’ of the United Jehad Council and ‘chief’ of Hizbul Mujahideen, has
been further reconfirmed. A letter issued to Salahuddin certifies that he is a
bona fide official of the Directorate of Intelligence and is working for the
Inter Service Intelligence. The letter suggests that he has been "security
cleared" and should not be "unnecessarily stopped". The certificate
is valid up to December 31, 2020.
Acknowledging
the threat, William E. Todd, Nominee to be Ambassador to Pakistan, told the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on September 22, 2020, that “to truly
reduce regional tensions, and rebuild a strong relationship with the United
States, Pakistan must take sustained and irreversible action against
terrorism”. He said that Pakistan has “committed publicly to ensure terrorists
cannot use Pakistani territory to operate” and that it “needs to continue that
work.”
While
Islamabad has failed again to deceive the FATF, it is believed that it will
continue with such efforts in future as well. No real transformation on the
ground is expected. FATF will, consequently, have to act with far greater
determination if it really wishes to end Pakistan’s direct support to and
sponsorship of terrorist groups and activities.
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Ajit Kumar Singh is a Research Fellow,
Institute for Conflict Management
Original Headline: Shades of 'Grey'
Source:
South Asia Intelligence Review
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