Understaffed Legal Wing of Foreign Ministry needs capacity building

Islamabad: The Legal Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is embarrassingly understaffed, and they have done nothing in the last few years to build their capacity and even went as far as to oppose a bill in the Senate for setting up an International Law Commission. “Preparations for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the coming three months is serious business,” says Ahmer Bilal Soofi, an International Law expert who has represented Pakistan before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

He was speaking to The News regarding reaction from the government on Pakistan escaping at the last moment being put on FATF’s Grey List, for not complying with anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regulations.

“In the long-term, Pakistan has to focus on improving its perception as a responsible state by self-disciplining its policies relating to non- state actors, JuD, its affiliates and other Taliban-linked groups. Pakistan has no political choice -- it's a legal compulsion under the UN law laid down in several of its Chapter 7 resolutions. I have been forewarning the state in my writings and talks that we need to bring our internal policies and laws in accordance with International Law obligations,” says Ahmer Bilal Soofi.

While Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif says that Pakistan has got breathing space from FATF for three months when another report on Pakistan will be presented, the Trump administration, say media reports from Washington, that the global watchdog was expected to announce after two days its decision to put Pakistan on a terror watch list, indicating a Pakistani minister (Khawaja Asif) might have prematurely set off celebrations that his country was off the hook.

“The final decision on that was due later this week, so I don’t want to get ahead of what that final decision would be,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters when asked about Khawaja Asif’s announcement.

“The government and specifically the Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to understand that diplomacy and legal approach goes side by side. Pakistan needs to constitute a legal team at the earliest to prepare for FATF session after three months. It's a very rigorous session and involves hearing stretching over several hours and sometimes full day in which a panel of global experts evaluate country's legislation, evidence of its administrative actions and even its judicial pronouncements,” Ahmer Bilal Soofi, who is also a former federal minister, said.

The top lawyer who works continuously towards implementing and improving legislation in Pakistan relating to international human rights law and international humanitarian law, pointed out, “All these are legal instruments and need to prepared, presented and argued by a proper legal team representing the state. While diplomats can create a more positive perception through their diplomacy -- at the end the determination of listing comes down to legal interpretation.”

The government here has worked in fits and starts to come down on the militants especially in Punjab, but they have resulted in half-hearted measures, especially with elections on the doorstep. “The state has done quite a bit in this regard such as improving its counter terrorism laws, enacting anti-money laundering, taking numerous administrative actions, strengthening criminal justice system, but legal diplomacy has not been preferred by the state and that's why it could not sell its efforts to the world,” Ahmer Bilal Soofi said.

Even otherwise, he emphasised that the government needs to undertake a detailed strategy internally whereby it should educate the Ulema and religious scholars about Pakistan’s commitments towards international community and let translations of UN laws be introduced in Madrassa courses so as to enable them to self-discipline their thought process and approaches.

With the resultant failure in arriving at a consensus in Paris on Tuesday, with the help from China, Turkey and Russia, the watchdog did not table the motion, which was jointly moved by the US and the United Kingdom against Pakistan, for voting in its plenary session.

Nauert said at the Paris meeting the members countries were looking at the nations that were not doing enough to crack down on terror financing, counterterrorism and the like.

“Pakistan is one of those countries that they’re taking a close look at, and they may be making -- they’ll be making an announcement sometime soon,” she said.