Pak’s Shades of Grey
The decision of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) not to let Pakistan off the hook comes as no surprise to the international community. The world has been watching in utter frustration how Pakistan continues to provide a safe haven for terrorist entities and individuals and is yet to take any credible action against those proscribed by the United Nations Security Council. No wonder that the FATF, the global watchdog monitoring terror funding, has retained Pakistan on the grey list and asked it to take action on specific points relating to terror financing. A virtual plenary meeting of the 39-member FATF, held in Paris, sent out a strong message to Islamabad to demonstrate progress on all the 27 obligations related to money laundering and terror financing by June next year which will be followed by an on-site visit by its inspectors. Turkey was the only country among the FATF members to have sought a lenient approach towards Pakistan while India wanted it to be put on the black list for persistent delinquent behaviour. Even China and Saudi Arabia refrained from coming out in support of Pakistan, which has been under pressure from the international community for over two years to implement a plan to curb money laundering and terror financing. The deadline to comply with all the action points was June this year, but it earned a reprieve after the plenary was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has failed to act against some of the world’s most wanted terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
With Pakistan remaining on the grey list, it becomes increasingly difficult for it to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, exacerbating the problems for the cash-strapped country caught in a political turmoil now. Since June 2018, Pakistan has been on the “grey list” of countries whose domestic laws are considered weak to tackle the challenges of money laundering and terrorism financing. Pakistan’s anti-terror law remains a sham and out of sync with standards set by the international body. Over the years, Islamabad has mastered duplicity into an art form and tried to hoodwink the international community on the issue of terrorism. It has now become a familiar pattern with Pakistan to initiate some cosmetic measures to mislead the world whenever there is intense global pressure on terrorism. But then, it is back to business as usual. The tussle between the elected government and the Army regarding anti-terror policy has further complicated matters in a country where the writ of the civilian government is limited in areas like security and foreign policy. However, it can no longer play with fire.
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