Lahore: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday – a day after Pakistan avoided ending up on a terror watch list by a global task force – said that the government will expedite steps to curb terror financing and money laundering.
Pakistan’s performance in the war against terrorism was better than others, but it still faced pressure from Washington, the minister said.
He also stressed the need to ensure the dignity and respect of the Parliament as it was the centre to which all other state institutions owed their existence and powers. He expressed this while talking to the media after addressing the 2nd All Punjab Workshop on Young Peace Development Corps (YPDC).
He stressed that all political parties must be united on tackling issues of national relevance.
Today, he said, one of Pakistan’s neighbouring countries was threatening to carry out surgical strikes. All segments of the society must get united to confront the situation, he said.
On the FATF grey list, Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan had already taken several measures to curb the money-laundering and putting Pakistan on the watch list would not affect its economic development.
He said the resolution in this regard had been moved by the US to apparently pressurise Pakistan. Pakistan’s steps against money-laundering were far better than many other countries, he added.
He said Pakistan, under the National Action Plan, had also taken a number of measures against the menace of terrorism. He said sarcastically that ‘surgical strikes’ were somehow benefiting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), adding anti-PML-N initiatives had enhanced party’s popularity among masses.
Addressing the workshop, the interior minister said the youth were the future of the country and empowering them was the responsibility of government, asserting that familiarising the youth with leading trends in education and research was the need of hour.
Iqbal said the world had appreciated Pakistan’s economic development during the last five years and national media should also highlight these achievements.
On Friday, Pakistan had escaped a motion to put it on a ‘grey list’ by the Financial Action Task Force, which met in Paris. The US and Britain had jointly submitted a letter to the FATF, nominating it for placement on the watch list.
Pakistan was on the list from 2012-2015 and feared a return would deter foreign investment and hurt access to international financial markets.
Although Pakistan did not feature on the list of countries with strategic deficiencies posing a risk to the international financial system issued along with the FATF statement following its plenary meeting, a top official privy to the development confirmed that the US succeeded in calling a second vote on Thursday night for its motion to ‘grey list’ Pakistan during which China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia changed their earlier stance by remaining silent.
The only country left opposing the motion was Turkey which was indicated by a statement shared by Interior Minister Iqbal on Twitter: “Thank you Turkey for standing with Pakistan against all odds and proving that we are one. We are proud to have a brother like you.” An earlier discussion on the motion, held on Tuesday, saw opposition from China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, causing the motion to fail.
Later in the evening on Friday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Miftah Ismail, who had been leading Pakistan’s diplomacy to defeat the motion sponsored by the US went on air to confirm that the motion had indeed passed.
Pakistan is now set to be ‘grey listed’ by FATF in June, meaning its financial system will be designated as posing a risk to the international financial system because of “strategic deficiencies” in its ability to prevent terror financing and money laundering.
Published in Daily Times, February 25th 2018.
