Freezing terror funds

After a week of what looked like dithering uncertainty, the government has finally confirmed that it has frozen the bank accounts and other assets of the Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), but it was like pulling teeth. The JuD is considered to be a front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba among others, and its charitable work a smokescreen, behind which its business is altogether darker.

However, even as the Foreign Office spokesperson was making the announcement, there was a sense that the government, in announcing the freeze, was doing so not so much of its own volition, but more to be in compliance with the requirements of the United Nations (UN). It thereby puts a convenient stretch of blue water between itself and those who support the JuD — and there are many of them. The JuD is a ‘listed’ organisation by the UN and as a member of the global body, Pakistan is obligated to proscribe the individuals and organisations so listed.

In addition to complying with UN requirements, it appears that the government has added some restrictions of its own and after a period of prevarication, the matter is finally in the open. Also in the open is the ban on the Haqqani network that has hitherto enjoyed unofficial and discreet patronage on the grounds that it might be utilised as a strategic asset. With this naming of names and drawing of lines, the government will be able to give a credible impression that it is serious in its desire to fully implement the National Action Plan, no matter how uncomfortable that may be. One only hopes that it continues along this path.

However, these are early days, and bans in the past have done little to limit the ability of organisations to rise again under different names, and as there is no public declaration of exactly what assets the JuD has in Pakistan, it is not possible to know precisely what has been put in the freezer. Whether this will allay the suspicions in the West that Pakistan is still playing both ends against the middle is also too early to say. However, for now, we will take the government at its word, and warmly welcome a move that might at last begin to turn a dreadful tide.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.

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