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LAST Friday, the finance minister must have heaved a sigh of relief. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — a global body tasked with monitoring every country’s legislative and regulatory framework for countering money laundering and terrorist financing — finally pulled Pakistan off its so-called blacklist.
The specific words were: “Pakistan is no longer on the FATF List of Countries that have been identified as having strategic AML deficiencies.”
The words come at the end of a rather frenetic and tense series of efforts by the government, particularly led by the finance minister, to do everything possible to pull Pakistan off the blacklist on which we had been placed back in 2012.
Pakistan’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terror (AML/CFT) law was adopted via ordinance in 2010, but remained deficient due to an inability to pass it into law.
In December 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a notification saying “the federal government is pleased to order that the individuals and entities listed in the annexure to this order reflecting the updates made by the Al Qaeda and Taliban Committee of the United Nations Security Council in addition to the earlier notifications, shall stand subjected to the travel restrictions and arms embargo in accordance with the aforesaid resolutions and their bank accounts, funds and other financial assets or economic resources including funds derived from property owned or controlled directly or indirectly, by them or persons acting on their behalf or at their direction, including but not limited to those used for the provision of internet hosting and related services, and used for support of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and other individuals, groups, undertakings and entities associated with them shall stand frozen with immediate effect.”
The statement issued last Friday announcing Pakistan’s removal from the so-called FATF blacklist hinted at difficulties ahead.
The Al Qaeda and Taliban Committee of the United Nations Security Council referred to in this notification was created in the year 1999 via Security Council Resolution 1267, and as per its own website, the committee “oversees the implementation by member states of the three sanctions measures (assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo) imposed against targeted individuals and entities associated with Al Qaeda, as designated by the committee in its sanctions list.”
And here comes the rub. The sanctions list, available on the committee’s website, contains names of organisations like the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, banned in Pakistan in 2001, and the Harkatul Mujahideen, along with all the aliases they have operated under, and any affiliations they have with other groups.
It also lists the Lashkar-e-Taiba along with 27 aliases that the organisation uses, which include the Jamaatud Dawa and the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation. At one point, the UN list refers to the JuD as “a front organisation of the LeT”.
So the question naturally arises: does the Foreign Office notification of December 2010 mean that these parties are now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo in Pakistan? No wonder the ordinance that created the AML/CFT law in 2010 was allowed to lapse shortly after being promulgated, and the government dragged its feet in seeing its passage into law via an act of parliament. No wonder Pakistan was, then, put on the blacklist by the FATF, an act that would progressively inhibit the ability of Pakistan’s financial system to interact with the outside world.
The foot-dragging continued till January of 2014, when the FATF said that Pakistan’s was now posing “a risk to the international financial system”. That is when the government mobilised, and by June managed to pass two amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. Following this, the FATF immediately acknowledged that Pakistan “had substantially addressed its action plan at a technical level” and scheduled a review in December.
The statement issued last Friday announcing Pakistan’s removal from the so-called blacklist hinted at difficulties ahead. “Pakistan will work … to address the full range of AML/CFT issues identified in its mutual evaluation report, in particular, fully implementing UNSC Resolution 1267.”
That’s right: fully implementing UNSC Resolution 1267.
Sometime in December, Nacta, the counterterrorism authority, published on its website a list of proscribed organisations in Pakistan. On Dec 27, for instance, that list had names of 60 organisations on it, and below that was a separate list of organisations “enlisted under observation” under UNSCR 1267. There was one entry on this list: JuD. In early Jan, another organisation had been added: the Haqqani network. Shortly thereafter, the list was taken down. And today, the whole website of Nacta has been taken down, with a message promising “updated website under construction”.
Late December and early January was also the period when a string of statements, sourced to senior cabinet and intelligence officials, were reported regarding an impending ban on JuD and the Haqqani network, “within weeks”. Reportedly, John Kerry also pressed for the ban.
So when the Pakistani ambassador to the United States tells the media that a ban on the Haqqani network (he didn’t mention JuD) is “in the works”, there is actually a large story behind the words. It appears that some amount of wrangling is taking place behind the scenes over this step, and judging by the requirements of the law that would be triggered by proscription, there is probably a great deal to wrangle over.
The writer is a member of staff.
Published in Dawn March 5th , 2015
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