Wholesale and retail terrorism

In June, Pakistan would be put on the FATF grey list because it has not taken adequate steps to hinder terror financing and money-laundering. Specifically, the West is concerned about the ability of Jamaatud Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation to operate freely inside Pakistan and raise funds. The case against Pakistan is that it has not taken actions against individuals and groups that have been designated as terrorists by the UNSC Resolution 1267. The US and UK were the primary movers behind nominating Pakistan for the grey list. A little history lesson here becomes inevitable.

After 1996 the British intelligence, despite knowing al Qaeda’s role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, tolerated the Advice and Reformation Committee — Bin Laden’s London base — operating on British soil. The British wanted to kill Muammar Qaddafi and an attempt to kill him in 1986, killed his adopted daughter instead. A Libyan military intelligence officer, codenamed ‘Tunworth’, approached and advised the MI6 to support the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) to kill Qaddafi. The UK allowed LIFG to operate on its soil and raise funds. LIFG believed Qaddafi’s government was “an apostate regime that has blasphemed against the faith of God” and that its overthrow was the “foremost duty”. These calls were issued in London. This was about half a dozen years after the creation of FATF. No grey-listing of the Brits. The UK government later designated LIFG a terrorist group in 2005, after its utility was over.

The FATF is no different from any other tool of strong nations. There is a long list of terror groups and individuals directly sponsored, armed, and protected by the US government. The FATF wouldn’t ever put the US on the list, unless it wants to be immediately destroyed. Just like no American can be brought to trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court because then the US would invade The Hague to rescue its citizens. Watchdogs with sophisticated sounding names hardly conceal their true identity, of being control tools.

Not doing enough to hinder the terror financing is bad enough. However, putting lethal weapons in the hands of wholesale terrorists, to borrow from Eqbal Ahmed, is totally horrifying. Ahmed categorised terrorists quite intelligently. Terrorism committed by ragtag militia is called ‘retail terrorism’ while that committed by the state is called ‘wholesale terrorism’. The United Kingdom just days ago signed a memorandum of intent for Saudi Arabia to buy 48 Typhoon fighter jets. While it brings billions of pounds of business for Britain’s biggest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, for the hapless people of Yemen it brings enormous death and destruction. That is a direct role by the British in ensuring a brutal slaughter in Yemen. That doesn’t earn the UK a place on any list.

As for the UNSC Resolution 1267, interestingly a resolution is more important than the basic articles of the UN charter. Article 2 (4) of the UN charter states, “All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.” Every time an American president opens his mouth, he issues a threat against some nation in the world. No research is required to know about the ‘use of force’ by the US. Somehow Article 2 of the UN Charter is never invoked in international relations yet invoking resolutions designed to bully weak nations while revelling in impunity is the norm.

In the emperor’s dictionary, every word has two meanings. The actual and the preferred one. The emperor’s meaning is that Pakistan is on the grey list because it uses militants as a foreign policy instrument. The word ‘militants’ here is the key. Actually, Pakistan is on the grey list not because it supports militants but certain militants that the emperor doesn’t like anymore.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.