ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has emphatically denied the Indian assertion about the presence of its most wanted person Dawood Ibrahim on Pakistan’s soil. Foreign Office spokesman and Director General South Asia Affairs Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry while talking to The News/Jang Saturday evening made it clear that the said person was never a resident of Pakistan.
The frivolous Indian claim has no evidence whatsoever and hence no base. He reminded that a list that was referred by the Indians is a usual misleading act of the Indians since no such list was authenticated or issued by any authority in Pakistan.
In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two consolidated SROs on Tuesday last, reflecting the current status of the UN Taliban and ISIL (Da’esh) and AQ (al-Qaeda) sanctions list. These lists contain names of individuals and entities designated under the two sanction regimes established pursuant to the UN Security Council resolutions. The consolidated SROs are issued periodically as a routine matter. Similar SROs have been issued, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the past, as per statutory requirements and to meet our international obligations. Last such SROs were issued in 2019. The SROs issued reflect information contained in the list entry of UN designated individuals/ entities. The reports in certain sections of the media about Pakistan imposing any new sanctions measures, through these SROs, are not factual. Similarly, the assertions made by some sections of the Indian media, as to Pakistan admitting to the presence of certain listed individuals on its territory, based on the information contained in the SRO, is baseless and misleading.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry has maintained that it is once again reiterated that the information contained in the SRO is reproduced as per the details in the list entry of the individuals/ entities designated under the two sanctions regime, which is publicly available, and contains names of individuals, who despite their confirmed deceased status still continue to be on the sanctions list.In the meanwhile, Indian media has given the address of Dawood Ibrhaim while falsely quoting Pakistani authorities as “White House, near Saudi Mosque, Clifton” in Karachi. It has stated that he has also other properties listed as “House No 37 - 30th street - Defence, Housing Authority, Karachi” and “Palatial bungalow in the hilly area of Nooriabad in Karachi”.The sources said that all the addresses given by the Indians are fabricated and no such property exist in the name of any foreign national. The sources have said that India is extremely perturbed about Pakistan’s bright chances for coming out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to its actions and meeting benchmarks assigned by the force. It put Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019, but the deadline was extended later due to COVID-19 pandemic. Pakistan has implemented plan of action and it is likely Pakistan would be removed from the grey list and brought in white list in October meeting of FATF.