Islamabad
The decision of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to keep Pakistan in its grey list till June 2021 despite the fact that it addressed 24 out of 27 action items has raised serious questions over the approach of global terror-financing and money-laundering watchdog.
Ignoring to include India and Afghanistan in its list even with credible evidence available, it is not out of place to point that the FATF accountability laws are being used for splintering and fracturing strategically selective countries like Pakistan.
Here are the 10 questions on FATF’s discriminatory approach towards Pakistan:
1. Why FATF shut its eyes after the United States Treasury department’s Finance Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) exposed involvement of Indian Banks, including state-owned banks in $1.53 billion money laundering used for terror-financing?
2. Why a same 27-point action plan has not been handed over to India on proof of India’s terror-financing to outfits including DAESH and TTP?
3. Why FATF has not greylisted India despite clear evidence of human rights violations in Kashmir?
4. Why the Indian spying on Pakistan’s soil through its serving navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav never became FATF’s case of discussion?
5. Why Afghanistan is not on any list of FATF despite the fact that multiple international and U.S. authorized reports pointed out huge amounts of illegal money flowing in and out of Afghanistan?
6. Why Pakistani journalists at the virtual plenary session at FATF Headquarters in February were not given a chance to question but opportunity was given to several Indian reporters?
7. The Greylisting caused $38 billion direct loss to Pakistan. For a poor economy like Pakistan, badly hit by COVID-19 pandemic’s burden, why FATF failed to translate its appreciation practically by not upgrading Pakistan out to white list?
8. Why Pakistan was subjected to perhaps the most challenging and comprehensive action plan ever given to any country despite it made sacrifices in war on terror with its economy suffering $250 billion loss?
9. Why FAFT has not clarified the apprehension that international organizations dealing with tax matters and illicit financing should not be used as instrument to pressurize developing countries?
10. Isn’t Pakistan’s presence among under-developed countries currently on FATF grey list is an easy example of ‘Pick the Odd one Out’? – Albania, Barbados, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.—APP
