UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order: Govt issues legal framework for implementation

ISLAMABAD: To bring clarity to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 and to ensure its implementation, the federal government Monday issued a legal framework which will now ensure that the assets of designated entities and individuals are frozen and seized according to a new law, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The objective of the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order 2019 is to streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities,” says the Foreign Office.

The implementation of this law will greatly help all the provinces in ensuring that once the UNSC Sanctions Committee designates anyone, they could quickly and legally move against them.

There had been continuous pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to freeze the assets of UNSC proscribed individuals and militant outfits. The announcement of the new law comes at a time when reports talk about the government having decided to take Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, into protective custody.

At the UNSC, the US, UK and France have already moved a fresh proposal in the to designate the JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

In the past, China had vetoed this move, and reports say that this time Beijing might allow this UNSC resolution to go through. “The United Nations Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 has been formulated in line with UNSC and FATF standards,” adds the Foreign Office.

From time to time, the UNSC has kept updating and evolving the sanctions regime and officials says it was necessary for Pakistan to ensure procedural clarity which would also be consistent with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) obligations.

The new law is in accordance with the provisions of Pakistan’s United Nations

Security Council (UNSC) Act, 1948 (Act No XIV of 1948) and also a requirement of (FATF).

The Foreign Office while issuing this notification said in a statement that a key measure of these sanctions regimes is “assets freeze”, under which states are required to freeze/seize the assets of designated entities and individuals as soon as they are designated by the relevant UNSC Sanctions Committee.

The UNSC consolidated list of terrorist individuals and entities is continually updated and includes over a 100 from Pakistan. These individuals live and operate from Pakistan using Pakistani territory for carrying out their operations.

Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had stated that the government had decided that militant groups would not be allowed to roam freely in Pakistan and a decision had been taken keeping the National Action Plan (NAP) in mind to crack down upon them.

It may be recalled that the Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter authorises the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), acting under Article 41, to decide measures, not involving the use of armed force, to give effect to its decisions for the maintenance of international peace and security.

In Pakistan, such decisions of the Security Council are implemented through the United Nations Security Council Act (UNSC), 1948 (Act No XIV of 1948).

The Asia Pacific Group (APG), a regional body of the FATF, had in the past asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that laws were framed and implemented to freeze the assets of UNSC proscribed individuals and militant outfits.

The APG also asked Pakistan for providing details of the enforcement power given in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in respect of sanctions as well as any other enforcement tools available to ensure that there are adequate penalties for non-compliance.