Daily Times

The conclusion of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was a victory for Pakistan. The country has not (until now) been grey-listed by the global body for combating terrorist financing and money laundering. This is a short reprieve for Pakistan and the next few months are an opportunity for the establishment to revisit its security paradigm that continues to view strategic advantage in militant groups. It will be in our national interest to act firmly and protect the country from international isolation.

The FATF episode also offers a lesson to both the politicians and the fourth estate whose job is to challenge the establishment. Our Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif made the rookie mistake of tweeting the FATF verdict days before the plenary session had formally concluded. Yesterday the Indian media was full of reports that only Turkey had stood by us. The suggestion being that New Delhi had somehow arm-twisted China into doing the dirty on us despite all the cash it has splashed our way. Ditto regarding Saudi Arabia (casting a single-block vote as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council) even though our military establishment had seemingly bypassed Parliament to deploy an undisclosed number of our men in khaki to train theirs. Yet this did not stop American news outlets from jumping on the bandwagon quoting unnamed sources claiming Pakistan’s status as financial pariah was a done deal. So much for the Western disdain for ‘fake news’. And a timely reminder for everyone to always go the original source where possible.

Though Pakistan may still not be completely out of the woods given that FATF updates to its list of ‘jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies’ are said to be ongoing. Be that as it may there is no time to waste in getting tougher on terror financing and money laundering. A good place to start might be for the next government to ensure that it has both a Finance and Foreign minister from the get-go. In the meanwhile, however, the current set-up has to prove it is serious about cracking down on the assets of those whom the UN designates global terrorists and entities. This will be good for our long-term national interest and will go some way to hopefully rebuilding the trust with Washington. For while we support the government all the way in its push-back against American scapegoating of this country for the Afghan quagmire — we are also mindful that while it should always be in the US interest to support Pakistani democracy that has not always been the case. Meaning that we have to help ourselves towards this end, too.

The takeaway from this entire debacle is that Pakistan must do everything it can to abide by international financial norms. And while the adviser to the PM was forced to put on a brave face as he noted that were the worst to happen it would still take around three months for its impact to be felt — we are conscious that this is the same window offered by our proposed three-month reprieve. In other words, the hard work starts now.  *

Published in Daily Times, February 24^th 2018.