Looking at the grey

The prospect of Pakistan being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force increased significantly after a meeting with the Asia Pacific chapter of the group last week. Pakistan’s presentation on the steps the country is taking to crack down on militant groups and their finances failed to satisfy the FATF, which has asked for tougher measures against the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Quite what the FATF wants us to do is unclear. Since Pakistan was grey-listed by the FATF this year, the country has promulgated a presidential ordinance proscribing all groups that have been banned by the UN Security Council. Since then, property owned by the JuD has been confiscated and it has been prohibited from collecting and selling animal hides on Eid. There is certainly more that can be done, including filing charges and prosecuting cases against the leaders of these groups, but doing so will take time and the FATF has only given us till its next meeting – on June 23 – to satisfy their demands. Being placed on the blacklist – as now seems likely – will introduce uncertainty in the economy, scare off international investors and isolate us from international banking channels. Avoiding the blacklist should be the chief priority now of the caretaker setup. The problem is that the fix seems to be in.

There should be no doubt that the FATF’s sudden panic over the action we are taking against militant groups has been forced on it by the US. The Trump administration has not hidden its anger at Pakistan over the Haqqani Network and Afghan Taliban disagreements. It is using the FATF as one of its many tactics to force Pakistan to accept its dictates. From cutting off aid to moving closer to India, the US has done all it can to pressurise us. The FATF may be its last roll of the dice but the consequences of being blacklisted are so dire that we may have no choice but to comply. The US has never shied away from using its political muscle to bend international institutions to its will. This is why it can, for instance, refuse Pakistan’s suggestion to place Jamaat-ul-Ahrar leader Umar Khorasani on the UN Security Council’s sanctions committee list while still complain that we don’t do enough to tackle militancy. The hypocrisy may be breathtaking but our position at the FATF is such that we have been left with few options.