Will FATF ‘Black List’ Pakistan? It Is In the Company of Virtually Collapsed States
By
Dr. Tara Kartha
10 Jan 2021
Even as the
Indian media reported the sentencing of Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, the
Lashkar-e-Taiba operational chief in Lahore, and of a court in Gujranawala
issuing an arrest warrant for Masood Azhar, elusive chief of the Jaish e
Mohammad, what was noticeable was the complete silence of the Pakistani press.
It was as if neither of these globally known terrorists existed.
India
certainly wouldn’t agree, after facing thirty years of terrorism. Neither does
the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), global watchdog for money laundering
related to financial crimes, terrorism and missile and nuclear proliferation.
And it is
very interested in Pakistan, as also 15 other countries whose financial systems
are under stringent review for financial jugglery. Of these 16, it is only
Pakistan, Yemen and Syria, who are under review specifically for terrorist
financing. In other words, Pakistan is in the same company as virtually
collapsed states, from where instability streams out into the entire region.
Links to
Pakistan?
In
Pakistan’s case, the instability is global. Don’t forget that nearly every
major terrorist attack – including the most recent September 2020 Paris attacks
– have had direct links to Pakistan.
In the case
of the Paris attacks, the main suspect Ali Hassan was lauded by his father as a
hero. Ali in turn, was a follower of Maulana Md Illyas Qadri, founder of the
Dawat-e-Islami, which is hugely popular in Punjab with a chain of madrassas
across the state. It’s all very well-funded. That’s what worries the FATF, the
source and route for money that sends people like Ali, and five others who were
arrested along with him, to kill people in other countries.
That also
applies to those detained recently. Lashkar chief Hafeez Saeed was sentenced to
15 years in a fourth case against him. He was earlier charged and sent to Kot
Lakhpat jail, where he reportedly enjoys special facilities and is always
available to meet anxious visitors.
That’s
believable. Any video of his innumerable ‘arrests’ have shown him being
surrounded by genuflecting policemen. More surprisingly, Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi,
out on bail since the Mumbai attacks, was sentenced to 15 years, though on a
terror financing case.
Mazood
Azhar who joyfully claimed the Pulwama attack, and was thereafter mysteriously
whisked off to an Army hospital, is at least under threat of arrest. All of
these are largely tied to terrorism in Kashmir.
But between
them, Jaish and Lashkar ran hundreds of institutions, including schools,
colleges, computer camps, and a large network of madrassas, all of which meant
lakhs of impressionable youngsters being churned out to wreck havoc against
anyone in conflict with their narrow creed.
That’s a
very large size and area of threat. Realistically, not all are going to commit
a terrorist act. But a very large majority will – either knowingly or
unknowingly – send money to organisations or individuals willing to commit
violence.
You cut the
money, and the terrorist organisation will lose interest. As for the individual,
his ability to carry out that terrorist act becomes somewhat diminished. He can
still hit out with a meat cleaver, as Ali Hassan did. But that’s better than an
AK-47 with a cyclic firing rate of 600 rounds a minute. Making that difference
is what the FATF is all about.
Will
FATF Actually ‘Black List’ the Country?
The
question is whether the FATF will actually ‘black list’ Pakistan when it meets,
it will decide the outcomes of the various reviews it has done since 2017.
Because
Recommendation 6 – which is part of the 40 Recommendations of the body – deals
with stringent action against all terrorist organisations designated by the
United Nations.
That’s the
core purpose of the whole exercise, and that’s what Islamabad has strong
objections against. If the body decides to ‘black list’ or rather finally
identify Pakistan as ‘high risk’, then in its own words it proceeds to ‘call on
all members and urges all jurisdictions to apply enhanced due diligence, and in
the most serious cases….apply counter-measures to protect the international
financial system…’.
In simple
language, the entire Pakistani financial system, including its banks, gets cut
off from the rest of the world, or gets access after the most stringent
examination at every stage. Islamabad will plead that its already tottering
economy will collapse. But it won’t. Ironing out financial irregularities may
actually get the Pakistani state more income, not less.
Hence,
Pakistan’s misconceptions work against itself. First, it feels India is at the
bottom of the whole FATF exercise. As can be seen, with so many countries
involved in this, it’s not. Second, Pakistanis seem to feel they are being
victimised. Actually, the more terrorist money is interdicted, the better it is
for the economy when clean money comes overground and into better investment
prospects, rather than being used to blow up a plane or a building.
That’s the
sober truth. But getting Pakistanis to slew away from the establishment’s
terrorist assets is likely to be even more difficult than getting the
establishment itself to shut its shop down. It’s a kind of ‘Stockholm
syndrome’. An abused state enamoured of the very forces that prey upon it.
---
Dr Tara
Kartha was Director, National Security Council Secretariat. She is now a
Distinguished Fellow at IPCS. She tweets at @kartha_tara. This is an opinion
piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The New Age Islam
neither endorses, nor is responsible for them.
Original
Headline: Terrorism & Finance: Pakistan’s Misconceptions Work Against
Itself
Source: The Quint
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/will-fatf-‘black-list’-pakistan/d/124035
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