Islamabad: Despite the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sword hanging over its head, Pakistan continues to harbour terrorists and is giving VIP treatment to many of them, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan-based Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terrorist Ranjeet Singh Neeta. Sources said that the international community is concerned about the hypocrisy of Pakistan which is pretending to take action against terrorists but is funding them.
According to the sources, the Pakistan government is giving VIP security to 21 dreaded terrorists including those sanctioned last month. According to the list accessed by a news agency, the terrorists given VIP treatment include underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Wadhwa Singh, Chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Indian Mujahideen (IM) chief, Riyaz Bhatkal, terrorist Mirza Shadab Baig and Afif Hassan Siddibapa.
Many of these terrorists are those who are wanted in India. Pakistan is giving them asylum. Experts believe that the Pakistan is creating an illusion that it is acting against terrorist groups to prevent the wrath of Paris based watchdog FATF. Last month, Pakistan had imposed more restrictions on 88 leaders and members of terrorist groups, in compliance with the new list, issued by the United Nations Security Council. Hafiz Saeed Ahmad of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Mohammad Masood Azhar of JeM and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Ibrahim are on the list.
According to the details, the government has also seized the bank accounts and properties of the terrorists in the country. They have also been banned from travelling aboard. Though Pakistan has claimed that it is taking actions against the terrorist groups, however, there are no details of how many actions have been implemented.
Islamabad is racing against time to escape the FATF's blacklist and clearing its name from the grey list. Pakistan is in the grey list since June 2018 and the government was given a final warning in February to complete the remaining action points by June 2020. The FATF extended the June deadline to September due to the spread of coronavirus that disrupted the FATF plenary meetings.
The country is facing the difficult task of clearing its name from the FATF grey list. Pakistan is making attempts to avoid a demotion from the FATF grey list to the blacklist during the upcoming October plenary meeting. While Pakistan tries to showcase its 'efforts' in combating terrorism, there have been reports from Afghanistan giving ample evidence of the presence of Pakistani terrorists on its land.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has been trying to paint a picture that it has started the reforms including the passing of bills in order to prevent blacklisting by the FATF. In late July, Pakistan Financial Monitoring Unit Director-General Lubna Farooq told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance that the country is yet to comply with 13 conditions out of the 27-point Action Plan of the FATF, including curbing terror financing, enforcement of the laws against the proscribed organisations and improving the legal systems.
