WASHINGTON: Pakistan implements international standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and has also criminalized such acts, "but the implementation remains uneven," says the US State Department report on terrorism.
The report ordered by Congress, published on Friday, represents the official assessment of the United States on the state of global terrorism over the past year and includes country reviews.
He noted that Pakistan, as a member of the Asia / Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering, a regional body affiliated with the international control body, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has made serious efforts to comply with the standards set by the agencies of global control. .
Report ordered by the Congress on evaluation for last year
However, the government did not significantly limit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) to "raise money, recruit and train in Pakistan" and allowed candidates openly affiliated with the organizations of the front of LeT will dispute the month of July. general elections, ”says the report.
He also complains that the Pakistani government expressed support for political reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban, but "did not restrict the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network (HQN) from operating in secure shelters based in Pakistan and threatening to the United States and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. "
Observers say that since the report is based on the events that will take place in 2018, it has not taken into account the measures that the country took during the last 10 months to control the financing of terrorism.
The FATF placed Pakistan on its "gray list" in June last year due to deficiencies in its regimes against money laundering and terrorist financing, specifically citing concerns about non-compliance with the full implementation of the UN Security Council ISIL (Da & # 39; esh) and Al Qaeda sanctions regime.
The FATF said that entities included in the United Nations list, including LeT and its subsidiaries, were not effectively prohibited from raising funds in Pakistan or denying them financial services.
Confirming the FATF claim, the United States report notes that, although Pakistan's laws technically meet international standards against money laundering and terrorist financing, the "authorities did not uniformly implement UN sanctions. related to designated entities and individuals such as LeT and its affiliates, who continued to use economic resources and raise funds. ”
Pakistan is committed to addressing these concerns as part of an agreed FATF action plan.
However, the United States report recognizes that Pakistan's 2015 National Action Plan to combat terrorism includes efforts to prevent and counteract terrorist financing, including improving inter-agency coordination.
The law designates the use of non-licensed hundi and hawala systems as predicate offenses of terrorism and requires banks to report suspicious transactions to the FIU of Pakistan, the Financial Monitoring Unit of the State Bank.
However, "these unlicensed money transfer systems persisted throughout the country and were exposed to abuse by terrorist funders operating in the cross-border area," the report adds.
The State Department notes that Pakistan experienced numerous terrorist attacks in 2018. Militants and terrorist groups attacked civilians, journalists, community leaders, security forces, law enforcement personnel and schools, killing and wounding hundreds.
The report also commends Pakistan's efforts to implement laws that allow for greater law enforcement and prosecution powers for terrorism cases. The laws also allow preventive detention, allow the death penalty for terrorist offenses and create special Courts against terrorism.
In 2018, military, paramilitary and civilian security forces carried out anti-terrorist operations throughout Pakistan. The Intelligence Office has national jurisdiction and is empowered to coordinate with the provincial departments to fight terrorism, ”the report adds.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry has more than 10 entities related to law enforcement under its administration and the country collects biometric information at land crossings with its International Border Management Security System, says the State Department report from United States.
The United States is a key member of the FATF and plays an important role in determining which country meets its obligations to combat terrorist financing and how to convince offenders to comply.
Posted in Dawn, November 3, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1514558/us-sees-gaps-in-pakistans-fight-against-terror-funding