An all seeing America chooses not to see

I was in Islamabad last year. Suddenly, one evening, my internet stopped working. I tried rebooting the modem but it did nothing. Then I called the internet provider. The guy on the phone said that I had not paid my bill and that was the reason they had pulled the plug on my home internet. I paid the bill quickly but the internet didn’t work all night. In the morning, I called the provider again to tell them that I had paid the bill and that they should restore my service. The guy on the phone gave me another number to call, which I did. That person also put me on hold and then someone else came on the line after a while. Finally, after repeated requests, my internet was restored. Before hanging up the phone, I did, however, say to the person on the other line that when I don’t pay the bill you don’t need any reminders or phone calls to cut the service but when I pay the bill, somehow you guys need a lot of reminders to restore it.

I was reminded of that episode this week when I heard the press briefing of the United States State Department spokesperson. He was asked by a journalist about the disputed elections in Pakistan. The spokesperson flatly denied commenting on it and said that it was an internal matter of Pakistan and that the United States was going to stay out of it. Fair enough but there is one thing that doesn’t add up. Actually more than one. For one, why is the US not able to see it for itself instead of being shaken from sleep?

When the global anti-money laundering regime FATF imposed restrictions on Pakistan by putting it under the grey list, somehow the same rationale of staying out was never used. I remember trying to open a bank account in Pakistan during those years. The bank wanted to know so much information and detail about that information that it sounded close to impossible, if not actually impossible, to open up a bank account. The terror financing and money laundering allegations against the state of Pakistan had made it so difficult for the average citizens, especially those who were below middle class, which by the way constitutes a huge majority there, to be able to conduct business using modern tools that he was left in the darkness of the ancient system.

Why didn’t the US government or the Europeans for that matter just say where and how much money do Pakistani citizens spend and send is a purely domestic affair of the Pakistani people and that we are going to stay out of it?

I also tried to purchase a SIM card in Pakistan some years ago. They not only asked for my ID but also needed my fingerprint done at the cellphone service provider store. Just so people know, I can purchase a SIM card in America without any ID or fingerprints. Why didn’t the US say whoever the Pakistani people call or text to is a purely domestic affair of Pakistan and that we’d stay out?

The fear of money laundering back then was that money could be sent to terrorist organisations which would regroup using those resources and start planning to attack the United States and Europe. Well, the regime in charge in today’s Pakistan is sharpening its teeth to gnaw at the American taxpayers’ money. Their claim to fame is massive corruption, forged document creation, and above all money laundering and parking it in Swiss banks. Who is to guarantee that these people who would sell their motherland for their selfish benefits in a heartbeat wouldn’t do the same if the terrorist groups came knocking on the door with some cash and a shopping list? Most importantly, why does the US need awareness about all these known facts?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2024.

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