Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday lambasted the opposition for defeating two bills related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in the Senate, accusing his political rivals of seeking to sabotage efforts for Pakistan’s exit from the watchdog’s ‘grey list’ for their personal interests.

The premier conveyed his criticism through a series of tweets hours after the opposition-dominated Senate rejected the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Waqf Properties Bill, both of which were passed by the National Assembly just a day earlier.

Palpably unhappy at the non-approval of what he termed as “critical” FATF-related legislation, Prime Minister Imran said he had maintained from the beginning that “the self-serving interests of the opposition leaders and the country’s interests are divergent.”

He said with the tightening of the accountability noose, opposition leaders have “become desperate to save their corrupt money by trying to prevent parliament from functioning”.

The prime minister accused the opposition of first seeking to undermine the government’s “effective Covid-19 strategy”, which he called “a recognised global success story” and of now “trying to sabotage Pakistan’s efforts to exit FATF grey list”.

“Opposition tries to hide behind [the] facade of democracy to protect their loot & plunder,” he said, adding that the opposition “would even have Pakistan put on FATF’s black list” in order to blackmail the government for a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)-like concession by “defanging” the National Accountability Bureau.

He said the opposition members “keep threatening to bring down [the] government unless given NRO”.

“Let me make clear: No matter what happens, my government will not allow any NRO as it would be [a] betrayal of nation’s trust in holding plunderers of public wealth accountable,” the premier proclaimed. He said former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had given NROs to the leaders of two political parties, a reference to the PML-N and PPP, which he said “quadrupled our debt & destroyed economy”.

“There will be no more NROs,” Prime Minister Imran concluded.

On Monday, the government through a well-planned strategy and with covert support of opposition parties had managed to get the two FATF-related bills – Anti-Money Laundering and ICT Waqt Properties – passed from the National Assembly after a heated debate on the role of NAB.

The anti-money laundering bill gives more powers to investigating agencies in the fight against money laundering and terror financing and suggests increase in sentences and fines.

The ICT Waqf Properties Bill is aimed at improving and streamlining the “management, supervision and administration of Waqf properties”. The bill after its passage from the Senate would put all the Waqf properties, including mosques, Khanqahs, shrines and dargahs, and contributions and donations of all kinds to these places under the control of the government.