Hafiz Saeed’s arrest

Can be seen in the context of Pakistan’s efforts towards FATF compliance

Pakistan is running against time to come good on the FATF action plan to counter money laundering and terror financing. Having gone past two deadlines — January 2019 and May 2019 — without complying in full, the country now faces the October 2019 deadline. It’s when the global money laundering watchdog will take another, and maybe a final review of Pakistan’s progress on some 10 remaining items on the 40-point action plan. On failure to convince the Paris-based task force, Pakistan — currently on the FATF grey list since June 2018 — is unlikely to spare the blacklist which also comprises the likes of Iran and North Korea, and which means global economic sanctions.

The arrest of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in connection with a terrorism financing case can, therefore, be seen in the context of Pakistan’s efforts towards FATF compliance. The Jamaatud Dawa chief had previously been placed under house arrest, in January 2017, but only to be released in November the same year after a court rejected the government’s plea for a 60-day extension in his house arrest. In May 2008, the US Treasury Depart-ment branded him a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’; and in December 2008, the UN also designated him a ‘terrorist individual’. Both designations blamed him for the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people, including six American citizens, had been killed.

There may be yet another explanation of Hafiz Saeed’s arrest — a move that coincides with Pakistan reopening its airspace for civilian flights five months after it was closed in the wake of a standoff with India; and Federal Minister Shireen Mazari taking off her anti-US tweets. Doesn’t that hint at our preparations for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first official visit to the US? There have been gestures of reciprocity from the other side too. The Trump administration has declared BLA a terrorist organisation while the US President has hailed the arrest of the ‘Mumbai attack mastermind’. President Trump’s new position marks an about-turn in his otherwise enduring stance towards Pakistan, and can be seen against the backdrop of the Afghan endgame. It will be interesting to see what comes out of what is billed as ‘the meeting of the unpredictables’.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2019.

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