Limited gains

A s with so many campaigns, the nationwide drive to throttle terror finance has been riddled with more stops than starts – rarely acquiring the kind of momentum required to dismantle militant infrastructure for good. That there has been headway is hard to deny though. The authorities have managed to take about $3 million out of the pockets of suspected militants by freezing a large number of accounts. But the question on everybody’s lips is, will Pakistan escape scrutiny when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a leading international tracking agency for economic crimes, holds its next meeting in Spain sometime later this month. At that meeting the watchdog is set to update its assessment of “high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions”.

Two years ago, Pakistan earned quite a bit of praise at the FATF session for making progress in curbing both money laundering and terror financing. This time we may not be that lucky, especially in the wake of concerns that outlawed groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba are operating under new names and other militant groups are raising funds and functioning without much hindrance. One of the biggest hurdles that have limited our gains is the lukewarm response of the government and the continued patronage for militant groups.

It is important to stay off the FATF black list: a country would not be able to borrow if proper measures are not taken to guard against money laundering and terror financing. Analysts believe that the state has to prevent all financial transactions involving militants and groups. This means it should not blow hot one day and cold the other day. Greater consistency has to be shown in anti-terror financing policies and closing the bank accounts of known terrorist groups. Greater effort is also needed in order to track down groups that have adopted new names or even patronage. The provinces have a due role to play and not a minute should be wasted.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2017.

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