India failed to ‘push Pakistan into FATF blacklist’

FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi urges Nawaz Sharif to return home

MULTAN:

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that India had tried to push Pakistan into Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist but it failed despite making repeated efforts to the effect.

“The government has worked a lot on FATF in limited time and in this connection bills have also been passed in consultation with the opposition from parliament,” said the foreign minister while talking to the media on Saturday.

However, the opposition parties voted in favour of the bills in the National Assembly but opposed it in the Senate, he added.

He said passage of the FATF-related bills was the need of the hour and expressed the hope that “Pakistan will come out from the grey list”.

Qureshi said that mourning processions were being taken out across the world today but these were banned in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).

The Indian forces were arresting the Kashmiri people to stop them from mourning. He appealed to Ulema to describe the Indian atrocities in IIOJK during their speeches.

Qureshi has urged former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return to the country and to face the legal cases, stating that the PML-N supreme leader is morally and legally bound to return.

“The health condition of Nawaz Sharif has improved as he is taking part in domestic politics from the United Kingdom, where he had gone for medical treatment.

“Nawaz was allowed to leave the country on compassionate grounds on recommendations of medical experts,” Qureshi said on Saturday while talking to media in his hometown.

Sharif, who was sentenced to seven-year jail term in Al-Azizia corruption case in 2018, was granted eight-week bail on October 29, 2019 in view of a debilitating health condition.

The PTI led federal government later granted him a rare permission to get medical treatment abroad and the PML-N leader on November 19, 2019 flew to London in an air ambulance.

In February, the Punjab government, however, refused to further extend Nawaz’s bail after he failed to submit the medical report demanded by a medical board formed by the government. The provincial government ordered the convicted former premier to surrender to authorities.

Recently both Prime Minster Imran Khan and his key cabinet members and advisers have claimed that the government will use all legal means to bring back the former premier.

“The PML-N leaders are not sharing medical reports of Nawaz Sharif despite the fact that his brother [PML-N President] Shehbaz Sharif was his guarantor [who assured the government that Nawaz would return after getting medical treatment],” Qureshi added.

The minister said heavy rains have damaged the routine life in Karachi and created troubles for the citizens. “The drainage system in Karachi has deteriorated and that federal and Sindh governments should sit together and make future plan for betterment of the city and to ease the miseries of citizens.”

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all federal departments including the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to take all possible steps for mitigating the problems faced by the people of Karachi and this purpose all resources would be extended.

To a question about release of water by India and flood situation, Qureshi said India has never left any opportunity to put Pakistan in trouble. “Whenever Pakistan needs water, India stops it but releases it without any warning when its reservoirs are full,” he added.

Qureshi said the coronavirus cases are gradually decreasing and the pandemic is nearing its end by the grace of God. He, however, urged the masses to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government to avert Covid-19.

“Pakistan is coming out of the pandemic while the virus is spreading speedily in India. It is believed that India could become most affected country across the world,” he said. About the opposition parties proposed all parties conference (APC), he said it is the right of the opposition to hold such conferences.

With input from News Desk