Last week Pakistan received 150 questions from the anti-terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over the follow-up report submitted by Islamabad following the October review in Paris.
The review two months ago saw Pakistan fulfill five of the 27 suggestions by the FATF over the preceding 15 months.
The recent 150 questions seek clarifications from Islamabad over the achievements cited in the report and the plan of action heading into 2020 and beyond. Government officials confirm that Islamabad is seeking further extension once the FATF meets for a review in Beijing next month, as Pakistan hopes to stay in the grey-list and avoid the dreaded sanction-loaded black-list. In this regard, efforts were once again made to address activities of one group that has been cited in every single FATF meeting: the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
On December 11, a Lahore-based Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) indicted JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed in a terror-financing case, after Saeed had already been booked for similar offences in July. On December 18, following a case filed by Gujranwala’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Saeed and his close aide Zafar Iqbal were indicted in another terror funding case.
Following the latest hearing this week, the case has been adjourned by the ATC till the next hearing on January 2. On January 8, Islamabad will file its responses to the FATF questionnaire, before the scheduled meeting in Beijing on January 21-24.
This is not the first time Islamabad has looked to enhance its sanctions, and take increased law-enforcement actions, against Hafiz Saeed just before an FATF review.
On February 12, 2018, an ordinance passed by then President Mamnoon Hussain amending the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 sanctioned a nationwide ban on Saeed’s groups, days before the FATF meeting in Paris the same month.
The decision to relegate Pakistan to the FATF grey-list was taken in that meeting.
Pakistan was formally placed on the grey-list in June 2018, with Islamabad being repeatedly warned of potential blacklisting, given continued inaction over the funding of proscribed terror groups, with Jamaat-ud-Dawa being frequently cited. During the October review, Pakistan was given an “unsatisfactory” rating on 22 of the 27 mutually agreed points by the FATF.
Among these concerns cited by the FATF is the example of JuD, which the terror watchdog officials and independent observers reaffirm as a charity front of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The FATF has reiterated that Pakistan has been unable to successfully deal with terror groups propping up under different banners, with many contesting last year’s general elections as well. After the LeT and JuD affiliated Milli Muslim League (MML) was barred by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from participating in last year’s polls, it contested as the Allaho Akbar Tehreek (AAT).
The progress report filed by Islamabad naturally shows little progress being made in the two months since October. Of the areas where Islamabad needs to right its wrongs – many of which apply to groups affiliated with Hafiz Saeed – the most critical are bolstering the mechanism to curb financial misappropriation and formulating a comprehensive security policy against all groups with any affiliation to terror groups.
In this regard, experts note, action against Hafiz Saeed’s groups will showcase a revamp on both these critical fronts.
“There has been an increase in global pressure on Pakistan to take action against all the groups that have been internationally declared terrorists. That would only be possible if Islamabad reviews its security policy and takes indiscriminate action against terrorist outfits, especially those that spring up under different names making any action against terror funding more complicated,” says Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, a former secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production.
The government has been urged to especially eye groups that reemerge under different banners. In the case of Hafiz Saeed, and the ongoing ATC proceedings, his defence lies in the very argument that he has nothing to do with LeT, which analysts argue can be refuted through JuD’s own literature and countless sermons of Hafiz Saeed.
Therefore, while there is sufficient action to take conclusive action against Saeed, the question marks continue to be raised over the state’s intent. However, what is clear is that if the state does not take decisive action, it could result in a fiscal catastrophe for an economy that has been pulverised over the past year or so.
“The FATF blacklist translates into international banking system boycotting the country, which brings into jeopardy any trade and investment in the country. However, many positive steps have been taken in recent months to avoid the black-list,” says former caretaker Finance Minister Salman Shah.
