Watchlist issue: Miftah asked to make last-ditch effort

ISLAMABAD: On special directives of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the government has sent out an SOS (mission) to its key Adviser to PM on Finance Miftah Ismail for flying back to Paris in order to make last ditch effort for avoiding US move to include Pakistan into watchlist.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is expected to take up issue of Pakistan at its plenary session on Wednesday (tomorrow) at Paris as US along with its western allies is making all out efforts for putting Pakistan on the watch list and sliding back the country into category of grey from which Pakistan had graduated after making lot of efforts few years ago. Miftah Ismail had returned back to Karachi after visiting different countries last week but keeping in view immense importance he was asked on Sunday to fly back to Paris for supervising efforts to avoid falling into watch list category at this FATF forum.

When Adviser to PM on Finance was contacted on Monday evening for inquiring whether he was sent back to Paris on the directives of PM, in a brief reply, he stated, “Yes” but did not share any further details. Pakistan’s delegation led by Director General (DG) Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) Syed Mansoor Shah and comprising of other members belonging to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interior and others are set to defend Pakistan’s position at FATF where Washington and its allies including Germany, France and India wanted to see Islamabad into the list of countries where FATF would look close eye to ascertain whether the country was moving towards placing mechanism that basically restricts money laundering and terror financing.

Official sources told this scribe that Pakistan had briefed all its friendly countries about the steps taken by Islamabad against terror financing. “Now we expect that the FATF will take up our issue on Wednesday (tomorrow) and we will continue our lobbying till at the last moment,” they added.

One foreign diplomat in Islamabad told The News on Monday that Pakistan had started its hectic lobbying very late and usually the western countries prepared their file work two to four weeks prior to the schedule of any meeting. “Pakistan should have taken required steps and hectic lobbying six months back for convincing countries to foil this move,” he said and added that he could not predict what will happen while sitting here in Islamabad but it had become hard for Islamabad for convincing even its allies at this point of time.

Pakistan’s all important ministers had visited different countries for lobbying against US move at FATF forum and conveyed Pakistani narrative that Islamabad had rendered innumerable sacrifices by losing precious lives and bearing $123 billion losses in the war against terror and it would be unjustified on the part of the world if it continued with the mantra of ‘do more’ as now time had come when the world do more in order to reciprocate our sacrifices in this war.

Pakistan, they further argued, had turned into conflict zone and its military undertook massive operations at different parts of the country especially at bordering areas of volatile Afghanistan to clean its soil from extremists’ forces. “We have proved our sincere efforts and now the world should reciprocate,” they concluded.